The Way I Loved You: A Draco Malfoy Love Story
by Laroche's Bitch
Summary: Loving the enemy is hard. Loving the enemy who was once your best friend is harder. But forgiving the enemy that you are in love with, who was also your best friend is the hardest. Horrible summary, better story...PROMISE Draco Malfoy/OC
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

I stared at the picture, a small smile on my face. A boy and girl were racing each other on their toy broomsticks, both aiming to capture the snitch that was lazily fluttering around in the air. The boy had platinum blonde hair, and a handsome face that used to smile for everything the girl said. The girl had dark brown hair which fell to her shoulders in a wavy fashion, and an innocent face that used to hang onto every single word the boy said. They had promised each other that they would be best friends..._forever. _

_ Too bad the boy changed. _The picture perfect scene started to shatter in front of my very eyes. As he got older, the boy's smiles became smirks. His beautiful gray eyes turned cold and piercing. And his personality? It started to slowly turn bad, rotting from the inside of him.

The girl stayed with him no matter how much he changed, taking each blow that he inflicted on her, doing everything that she could to preserve their friendship. Why? Because she realized that she was starting to fall for him-not the person that he had become, but the person he was back then.

But how long can a heart endure until the pressure becomes too much?

_ "Watch where you're going, mudblood," the boy sneered, pushing the girl hard so she stumbled and fell. A smug smile appeared on his face when she didn't say anything. She never ever did say anything. She only stared at him with her dark brown eyes, chewing slightly on the inside of her cheek._

_ "Stop staring at me," the boy snapped. "What, are you in love with me or something?" _

_ "Pathetic," one of the boy's friends snickered. "Poor little Gryffindor, in love with you."_

_ They watched as the girl's lips trembled slightly, and tears started to spark in her eyes. _

How much hurt can the heart endure until the pain becomes intoxicating, or just simply too much?

_Their cackles arose in the air, while the girl continued to look towards them, a new emotion started to possess her. _

_ "I did love you." She said this as a whisper, yet it was loud enough for the two boys to hear. The boy's friend started to laugh again._

_ "You hear that? The poor little girl _loves _you!" he chortled, fixing his gaze on the girl. "You have no chance, mudblood. Go back to your muggle world and play dollies. We don't want you here."_

_ The girl ignored him, her eyes remaining fixed on the boy. "I did love you," she repeated. "I really, truly did."_

_ "Yeah? Well, I'd never go for you! You're disgusting!" the boy yelled._

_ The girl laughed softly, but there were tears in her eyes. "And to think that I put up with you for this long. Did you remember how it used to be, or have you forgotten? I tried everything I could to keep them from getting you, but you're truly gone now. I loved you, I truly did, but now...I give up." She __turned to walk away from the two boys._

_ "Yeah, that's right! Go run away!" the boy's friend yelled._

_ "Shut up, Goyle!" the boy hissed. He took a few steps forward, trying to stop the girl from leaving. "Wait! Alia, please don't go!"_

_ The girl thought that she must have been imagining things when she heard a note of hurt in his voice. She turned around, masking her emotions so he wouldn't be able to see that this was killing her as well. "I don't really see any reason to stay. You've hurt me enough times, and you've changed. We're not best friends anymore, and we probably will never ever be again." She gulped, swallowing past the lump in her throat. _

Being in love with your best friend is tough, but being in love with your best friend who didn't care about you at all is even tougher.

_"Goodbye Draco. Take care of yourself."_

I tore my eyes away from the picture, noticing how the boy had gotten the snitch and was laughing at the girl's crestfallen face. I kept my gaze transfixed on the picture, knowing what would come next. This was my favorite part, the part that always made me smile.

The boy started to notice how sad the girl had become and his smile slipped off of his face. He walked towards her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, handing her the snitch. They both began to smile again, and the boy blushed slightly as the girl tackled him into a hug.

But that was gone now. It was the past, and it was never going to come back.

I started to tear the picture, my eyes filling up with tears as the fresh pain of heartbreak started to appear again in my chest. The boy wasn't just any other boy, and the girl wasn't just any other girl.

He was Draco Lucius Malfoy and she was Alia Emily Morgan, friends who had forgotten each other long ago...best friends who were supposed to be there for each other..._forever. _

**Well life certainly had a funny way of sneaking up on you when you thought that everything was okay...and for me, nothing was ever okay after that. **

* * *

><p><strong><strong>My first story on here(: I hope you like it.

&R please. :)


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

-Alia-

It's been six years since I lost him, six years of feeling empty like half of me was missing. It wasn't easy, I can promise you that, but it made me stronger. Now, I could face him without crying-or even feeling anything but quiet, cool detachment. A few years ago, I probably wouldn't have believed that I would've made it this far-hell, I was still even shocked that I had-but I realized that once you overcame something, it wasn't even half as bad anymore.

A lot had happened in six years time. I became closer to the Gryffindors, and learned to stay away from the Slytherins, who were now enemies to me like they were to the other Gryffindors. I wasn't close to the Golden Trio, I thought that they were overrated...but they seemed nice. From the deaths of teachers, students, and sometimes parents, these six years weren't ones that anyone could predict happen.

But they happened anyway, leaving everyone who went through them bruised, scratched, and scarred. It made me feel better to know that I wasn't the only one.

"Hey Alia, what do you have now?" Ginny asked me, coming over to my side. I checked my schedule, a grin coming onto my face as I checked the class.

"Free period."

"Us too," Harry interjected. He came over with Ron hanging close by him. I noticed that the third member of their little trio, Hermione, was nowhere among them. Weird. "Do you want to hang around with us?"

I frowned and stared at him. This was the first time that I had heard those words coming from his mouth. "Um, sure."

"Great," he grinned. "Let's go around and prank-"

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Ms. Morgan, what are you doing standing around in the halls?" McGonagall's voice cut through the air like a sharp whip. We all winced, _caught._

"Um, we actually have a free period, Professor," Ron said sheepishly.

"I can see that, and I recommend that you fill it with Potions. If I see you again in the hall, and not in class, I will give you detention."

"Yes professor," we mumbled.

Once McGonagall was out of sight, the three of us started heading to Potions class. I felt a little better once I realized that Snape wasn't going to teach us this time, since he was the nastiest teacher in existence, but I frowned once I realized that I had no idea as to who the first teacher was.

"Hey Harry?" I asked him casually.

"Yes, Alia?" he responded with a smile.

"Who's our new Potions teacher again?" I vaguely remembered Dumbledore mentioning his name before during his announcements but hadn't retained his name.

"Slughorn. Weren't you listening to Dumbledoor when he said his speech?" he teased me.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Honestly, does anyone?"

"I do!" Ron exclaimed.

I laughed. "Of course you do, Ron."

"Right then, we had entered the Potions room. From the looks of things class was just about to start. Slughorn came over to us with a bright smile on his face.

"Well hello, Harry, my boy! It appears as if we have met again!" he called out cheerfully, totally ignoring me and Ron. I vaguely wondered here they had met before and quickly dismissed the thought. It was none of my business, and honestly, I could've cared less.

Harry gave Slughorn a polite smile that was on the edge of becoming chagrinned. "Hello Professor. Do you mind if we three join your class?"

Slughorn glanced at me and Ron in surprise, as if seeingour presence for the very first time. "Why of course! Take a seat!"

I ended up sitting next to Hermione, since no other seats were available. We had this class with the Slytherins, which meant that _he _would be there, but I wasn't too bothered by the fact. I mean, it's not like he would remember me...right?

"Good morning class. My name is Professor Slughorn, and I will be teaching you Potions this year," Slughorn called out, beaming at us. "Now, let's see if you can identify the potions here on my desk..."

Hermione's hand shot up as soon as those words went out of Slughorn's mouth. I rolled my eyes _typical._

"The first one is Amortenia, a powerful love potion," she breathed. "It will draw people to it by giving them the most enticing smells..."

Slughorn beamed again. "Very good, Ms. Granger! 10 points to Gryffindor!" he looked around at the rest of us. "Can anyone identify the last one?"

This time, nobody's hand shot up-not even Hermione's. Everyone started at her in quiet surprise, while she gave us all an indignant look.

"What? I don't know _everything!_"

Lots of muttering was heard as everyone started to disagree with that.

Slughorn frowned at our distraction. "The potion is Felix Felicis," he called out over us. We all stopped and stared at him again. "It's the most powerful luck potion known to the wizarding world."

He stepped forward to Harry's desk, and clapped his shoulder cheerfully. "And _you'll _be making it!"

My mouth fell open, and I saw many others had smirks on their faces. A bottle of liquid luck? Who _couldn't _use one of those?

"Open your textbooks to page 354. The person that gets the potion perfect will win a bottle of Felix Felicis."

Harry, Ron, and I awkwardly raised our hands. Slughorn raised an eyebrow and looked at us. "Yes?"

"Err...professor, we don't have potions textbooks," Harry muttered.

"No problem!" Slughorn said cheerfully. "There should be some in the back cupboard!"

I beat Harry and Ron to it, hoping to get a new copy instead of one of the old and moldy ones. The first one I picked up was pretty old and battered, but it seemed more special than all the others. I opened it to reveal a name scrawled on the inside cover: _Property of the Half-Blood Prince. _I frowned, wondering what that could possibly mean.

"Thanks Alia!" Harry said cheerfully, grabbing the book from my hands. I turned around and protested, but I realized that he was already in his seat and I was the only one up by the cupboard. Everyone was staring at me.

I took another copy from the cupboard with a sigh, then started to make the potion. It actually didn't seem to be so hard...

In the end, Harry was the one who one the batch of Felix Felicis. Lucky git. I stared at his glowing eyes and a tide of jealousy came over me. My eyes fell to the potions textbook that he had now cradled in his hands and bit my lip. It probably had to do something with that textbook.

"I've got one more announcement before you leave," Slughorn called to us. He started to erase the board, taking his time. "For your next project, you will be partnered up with someone to make a potion and present it to the class. I'll call out partners now." He took a long list of names and started to call them out. From the first few names, I could tell that I wasn't going to end up with anyone from my own house.

The pairings were going to be Gryffindor and Slytherin.

A small amount of panic rose in me and i found myself praying that I wouldn't end up with _him. _All those walls that I had built around myself, promising that I wouldn't let him get to me started to crack. I fought with myself to keep it together as I realized that neither of our names had been called yet. As Slughorn called the last pairing, my heart plummeted down to my stomach.

_This couldn't be happening to me..._

"Draco Malfoy and Alia Morgan."

A sob tore out of my lips, and I realized that everyone was looking at me again. I clamped my hand over my mouth, my eyes filling up with tears. I couldn't take it anymore. Their staring, the pressure...it was all too much.

I found myself running. Where to? I had no idea. Sobs were coming out like hiccups, and tears were obstructing my vision. I ran blindly, pushing past other students and trying to escape reality.

When I reached the end of the hall, I collapsed. The tears and the sobs had stopped, but I was drained out of everything that I had. No energy, no spirit, no mortality. What did I have left?

I was a lot cause, hopeless. Losing my best friend had turned me away from everyone else. I had depended too much on him to make me happy, and had no one left when he was gone. I had buried myself into a deep hole, with no way of getting out.

It wasn't _his _fault...it was _mine._

I closed my eyes as a wave of tiredness hit me. _It was _my _fault. I had caused this, not _him.

And now, I was in a deep hole that no one could save me from. 

-Draco-

I waited impatiently for the names to be called out. From the first few sets of names, I could tell that I wasn't going to end up with anyone from my own house. I growled, glaring at the other Gryffindors. If I had to be with one of them, then I hoped that they wouldn't mind doing all the work, because bloody hell, I wasn't going to be doing any.

"Draco Malfoy and Alia Morgan."

I heard a loud sob, and my head snapped towards the source of it. A girl with wavy dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes cover her mouth in surprise. Once she noticed that everyone was staring at her, tears started to cascade down her eyes and she started push herself towards the doorway in an effort to escape.

Shocked silence was all that followed-even the Slyherins were too shocked to say anything.

I gradually began to frown, wondering why she had such a negative reaction. But then again...why did I care? She was just another Gryffindor, she didn't matter anything to me.

"Well...that was awkward," Slughorn muttered. "I'll see you all tomorrow in class and...Mr. Malfoy, maybe I have a word?"

I nodded, walking over to his desk.

Slughorn sat down, rubbing his temples heavily and seeming like he was very deep into thought. I waited patiently, being the gentleman that I was, but a spark of impatience soon escaped, making me say: "You wanted me, professor?"

Slughorn looked up at me, startled, but nodded quickly. "Yes, yes. I was wondering if you knew the reason why Ms. Morgan seemed to have such an avid reaction to your partnership? Did you happen to do something to her, Mr. Malfoy?"

My nostrils flared in indignation as I stared back at him. How could he think that _I _did something? Why was he blaming _me? _"No sir, I don't. I don't even know her."

The professor nodded, seemingly convinced. "Alright then, off you go."

I left the classroom, not saying any sort of goodbye back to him. When the classroom was out of sight, I sighed and leaned against a wall, closing my eyes.

The truth was that I did feel like I knew that girl, and I did feel responsible for her reaction. Whatever I did to her, she seemed traumatized, but I felt nothing. How could I have walked away with nothing? Why didn't I remember?

I beat the wall in frustration, wincing as I felt my skin split and blood start to pour out. I headed to Madame Pomfrey's, hoping that she could give me some medicine to soothe the aching.

When I reached the infirmary, my stomach dropped. The girl was there, but she looked so still, as if she were dead. I ran over to her, then breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her chest rise and fall, a sign that she was breathing. Her eyes were closed, indicating that she was in a deep slumber. I stood over her, staring at her face and wondering about her flighted escape again.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Mr. Malfoy?" I jumped as I saw Madame Pomfrey stand in the doorway, her hands on her hips and her lips pursed.

I nodded. "Can I have some ointment for my hand? I rammed it against a wall on accident."

Madame Pomfrey's eyebrows went up. "Accidentally? I'm pretty sure that no one slams their hand into a wall accidentally."

I sighed. I wasn't in the mood to play 20 questions. "Can I please just have the ointment?"

Her lips seem to purse further, and she nodded. "Yes, yes. I'll be right back."

I turned my gaze back to the girl. The longer I stared at her, the longer that I felt something tug at the edge of my memory. However, when I tried to reach over and capture it, it flew away just like the girl had.

I drew in a heavy sigh. This was making me crazy. I questioned myself on why I was starting to care so much, since she was just a Gryffindor. I had no such fascination with any of the other Gryffindor girls...why her?

"Mr. Malfoy, I have your medicine," Madame Pomfrey called, startling me again.

"Thanks," I muttered. She nodded and left the room again.

I started to apply the ointment, wincing at the stinging pain that seemed to radiate from every single square inch of damaged skin I touched.

While I was applying my ointment, I noticed that the girl had shifted. She was now laying on her side, her front facing towards me. She started to frown in her sleep, the place between her eyebrows puckering up as she did so.

"Draco..." she breathed.

I shot up, my mouth slightly agape as I stared at her. She knew my name...?

_Of course everyone knows your name, you blithering idiot! _my mind yelled at me. _You're DRACO MALFOY! The Prince of Slytherin!_I smirked.

She shifted again, coming closer to the edge of the bed. "Draco...please...no..." Tears started to spring in her eyelids, and her bottom lip started to wobble.

_Shit, _I realized. _She's going to fall._

The floors of Hogwarts were anything but soft. Stone was what this school was made of, stone that could bash your face in if you fell on it.

"No...No, please don't leave me..." she begged, rolling over again. She started to fall. I started to run. I caught her just in time, right before she could bash her head.

Her eyes sprang open, and I froze. I closed my eyes as I heard her gasp, screwing them shut so I didn't have to see them. I was already caring about this girl too much, and she was nothing to me.

This was not how Malfoys were supposed to act. We were supposed to be cool, detached, and emotionless. We weren't supposed to care about anyone except ourselves.

"_You,_" she breathed.

I opened my eyes, looking up at the ceiling with a sigh. I had to be a Malfoy, and do what was right. I didn't know her, I wasn't supposed to care. Besides, she was a Gryffindor, and we were supposed to be enemies.

So I just looked at her, a sneer of disgust on my face. "_Yeah, it's me you filthy mudblood!_" I dropped her, not caring on whether she hit the floor or the bed. I couldn't look at her anymore, I couldn't handle seeing her reaction.

I fled the room, not looking back.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

-Draco-

"Where have you been, mate?" Blaise asked me. "You disappeared right after Potions."

"None of your business," I snapped. Ever since meeting with that girl, I had been put on the edge. I ran my hand through my already messy platinum blonde hair and let out a sigh. She was bugging me to the point that I was snapping at one of my best friends. "Sorry Blaise."

Blaise's eyebrows shot up as soon as those words left my mouth. "Excuse me? Did you just _apologize _to me?"

I was just as taken aback at my words as he was. Since when did Draco Malfoy _apologize? _"I guess I'm just not myself today," I muttered, more to myself than anyone else. "I'm going to bed."

As I headed to the bathroom to shower, I wondered about what was going to be in store for me this year. I was now a death eater; a replacement for Voldemort for having my father in Azkaban. As a punishment for my father's failure in the Department for Mysteries, I was now burdened with the task that he was supposed to receive before: to kill Dumbledore and get the rest of the Death Eaters into Hogwarts.

It was a task that I feared more than anything, but failure wasn't permitted when working with the Dark Lord. Every failure accounted for one hour of torture. The torture was supposed to be painful, or so I had heard from other Death Eaters. You were beaten until you were barely alive, then healed till you had forgotten what it was like to feel the pain.

A shudder went through me as I remembered my mother's face when she had begged me not to join. I glanced at my forearms, where her nails had left deep scratches as she had tried to pull me back from my fate. I winced, remembering how my blood had stained her robes, matching the color that the whites of her eyes had become.

_At least father would've been proud, _I thought bitterly. _I'm exactly what he wanted me to be. _But even now, I was questioning myself if becoming a Death Eater was worth making my father proud. He couldn't get me now that he was in Azkaban, he couldn't torture me anymore that he was locked up and rotting away.

So why did I become a Death Eater?

I had no choice. The Dark Lord would've killed me and my mother. My mother didn't deserve that fate, not after all she had done for me. She was the one that healed me when my father had tortured me, the one that ever showed me any love and compassion. I knew that she cared deeply about me, and she didn't deserve to die. Even if she followed the Dark Lord, she didn't deserve to die.

I laid my head in my hands and let out a sigh. _What a mess my life has become... _I thought to myself. A few years ago, all I used to have to worry about was hanging out with right crowd, and getting decent grades in classes. Now I had to worry about surviving the next day, and making sure that I didn't fail.

At this moment, I hated my life more than anything.

-Alia-

The bright sun started to hit my eyelids, waking me up from my sleep. I squinted against the harsh rays, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the light. I had expected to wake up in that dark corner, but was surprised to in the infirmary. "How did I get here?"

"Ah, Ms. Morgan, you are awake," Madame Pomfrey smiled. "You were brought here by one of the school elves after they had found you unconscious near the kitchen."

I nodded, trying to remember getting carried by one of the school elves. No such memory came to my mind, but I remembered how much I had been crying, and the sudden pressure that I felt when all eyes were on me in the Potions classroom. I had been partnered with Draco Malfoy. The very thought of that made me cringe. But that wasn't even the worst of it.

Yesterday, Draco had been here. I felt his presence as I had been asleep, the warmth that radiated off of him as he stood close to me. I wanted to reach out, hold his hand, or at least feel it somewhere on my body. I hoped that I hadn't started talking in my sleep, as I tended to do when I was dreaming. I was re-living the memories of him hurting me verbally. I was re-living the moments that he treated me like I was absolutely _nothing _to him.I was re-living the times that he had changed, and I was caught in the whirlwind of his downfall to disaster. I was re-living the time that he had broken my heart, and I told him goodbye.

He couldn't have possibly heard it through my sleep talk. I would've been dead embarrassed if he did.

What I did do, however, was start rolling around in my sleep. I must've shifted really close to the edge, because the next minute, I knew that I was falling. It happened too quick for me to gather a reaction, but I was surprised when I realized that I didn't feel any pain during the fall. The only thing that possibly happened was that someone had caught me.

I had opened my eyes, and realized that it had been Draco. His eyes had been closed, he probably didn't want to see my face. Hurt stabbed me in the chest. Did he hate me so much as to not be able to bear my sight?

I had wanted to do so many things then. I wanted to run my hands through his silky white blonde hair. Was it as soft as I remembered it being? I had wanted him to open his eyes, so I could drown in their beautiful gray color. Were they still cold and piercing? Most of all, I wanted to feel his embrace and his warmth. Judging from his build, he seemed to have been working out. I wanted to feel his strength, and tease him about how much the girls would've died to feel him.

But I didn't do any of these things, as tempting as they were to do. I just gazed at him, sadness consuming me. We would never be friends again, not while he was like this. I missed him so much that I could've just broken down right there. The only thing keep me was my dignity. I wouldn't let him see how broken I was.

"_You,_" was all I had said instead.

He had opened his eyes, then, but he still wouldn't look at me. He looked up at the ceiling at first, and it seemed that he was deeply thinking about something. I vaguely wondered if he was thinking about me, and my heart beat faster with that thought.

But the next thing he did shattered my heart and all the hopes I had along with it.

He looked at me in disgust, just plain disgust. No other emotion was present in his face. "_Yeah, it's me you filthy mudblood!_" he yelled, dropping me. I had fallen to the floor, hurting my arse in the process. I had let out a cry as I fell, and that cry soon turned into silent tears as I saw him exit the room.

He hadn't even remembered me? That had hurt me more than anything that he had done before. Out of everything that I had hoped for, I had sincerely hoped that he could remember me, his ex best friend for the last five years. But he had forgotten everything..._everything._

After that, I had cried myself to sleep.

The tears were now threatening to come back now as I thought about him, but I couldn't cry in front of Madame Pomfrey. I knew once that I had started crying, I couldn't stop. I sighed, then realized that Madame Pomfrey had been talking to me.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that," I murmured sheepishly, looking down shyly.

She sighed and looked at me with a strict expression on her face. "I said that if you are feeling well, you may leave whenever you want."

I nodded and rose. I couldn't take being in the infirmary anymore. "Thank you for caring for me, Madame Pomfrey."

She cracked a smile and patted my head in a motherly fashion. "It was my pleasure, Ms. Morgan."

When I looked at the clock, I realized that it was breakfast time. My stomach growled, and I began dreaming about eating some toast for breakfast. All that crying had drained me of my energy.

As soon as I sat down at the Gryffindor table, I was flooded with multiple questions.

"Why did you run out of Potions yesterday, Alia?"

"Did Malfoy do something to you that made you run out?"

"Did Malfoy rape you or something? Did you guys date or was it a fling?"

I closed my eyes, groaning slightly as I did so. Of course there would've been talk about me running away from Potions class. Of course everyone would be asking about it the next day. I sighed, not wanting to say anything.

"You guys, leave her alone. I'm sure that she doesn't want to talk about it," Harry said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I didn't look at his face, but stiffened slightly at his touch. Did he think we were best friends now or something? I just talked to him for a few minutes yesterday, and here he was wrapping his arm around me!

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, Alia," he murmured in my ear, dropping his arm.

I nodded, my eyes on my pancakes. "Thanks, Harry."

"But I'm still curious to what _did _happen," he said, grinning sheepishly.

I groaned out loud this time, shooting him a withering look. "I thought you were on my side!"

"Well, you don't have to tell the whole table...maybe just me?" he offered, that grin still on his face. "C'mon, I won't judge you."

I rolled my eyes, getting up from the table. I couldn't even eat a full breakfast without getting hounded with questions! "I don't think so, Harry."

"Well, at least sit down," he said. "Please don't go. I promise that I'll stop."

"But will everyone else?" I pressed. "All I need is to eat breakfast, and I'll go to class. Is that so hard to ask for?"

He shook head. "They're just curious. Just ignore them."

It was my turn to shake my head. "Sorry Harry. I just can't do this." I got up again and started walking towards the Gryffindor dorm.

"What, are you going to run and cry again?" he yelled, anger entering in his tone.

I froze, hearing the full volume of the laughs behind me. I turned around slowly, trying to stop my lips from quivering as I did so. Anger fueled through me as well, and I stalked over to him, my eyes blazing. I raised my hand, glaring at him murderously, and slapped him hard across the face.

"Don't you _dare _talk to me again," I growled.

The laughter had died down immediately once everyone heard the sound of my slap. The whole hall was now deathly silent, even the other tables had heard the slap echo across the room.

Cheers erupted from the Slytherin table, but I quickly shushed them with a look. The whole Gryffindor table was dumbfounded with my outburst, and Harry was staring at me in shock, one hand holding his now red cheek.

I gave him a hurt look, my chest heaving with the amount of emotion that I was feeling. "I can't believe that you would say that to me, Harry."

"Wait, Alia, please! I didn't mean it!" he cried, grabbing my hand as I turned away.

"Then what _did _you mean?" I whispered. I didn't take my hand away for now. I secretly enjoyed his warm touch. It had been way too long since I had let anyone touch me.

He didn't say anything, and I sighed, closing my eyes. "That's what I thought." I wrenched my hand away from his grasp, heading towards the dorms again.

"No, Alia, please!" he begged. "Please, I didn't mean it!"

I ignored him, and ignored all the other eyes on me as well. As I turned the corner, I managed to look back, and my breath caught in my throat. All the other tables were now looking away from me, but Draco Malfoy was still looking in my direction. I shook my head quickly, then bit my lip. I couldn't let him get to me, not now. Not when I had just gotten better.

I turned and took the steps two at a time, slamming the door to the dorm quickly. I sat on my bed and let out a sigh, wondering how in the world my life had become so depressing.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

-Alia- 

I heard a hesitant knock on the dorm door and let out a sigh. _Why couldn't Harry leave me alone? _"Leave me alone, Harry. I don't want to talk to you."

"It's not Harry," I heard a soft voice say. "It's me, Hermione."

"Oh..." was all I said. I was a little shocked that out of all of the Gryffindors, Hermione would be the one that would follow me. I thought that she hated me, since we never had talked. "Well, come in...I guess."

Hermione came in, a small smile on her face. Once she saw my depressed state, that smile turned into a frown of concern. "Alia? Are you okay?"

I shook my head. "I'm not sure...I'm just out of it, I guess."

"Well, you've been out of it for quite a while..." Hermione admitted. "I brought you some breakfast.." She handed me a cinnamon roll, and I took it from her gratefully.

"Are they still talking about me downstairs?"I asked, taking a bite. I almost moaned when the taste appeared in my mouth. The aroma of fresh baked cinnamon also helped heighten my experience.

Hermione sighed and nodded. "You left quite a scene, slapping The Chosen One like that." She cracked a smile. "Honestly, I think he deserved it, though."

I smiled. "Of course he deserved it. I don't understand why he's all over me now...ever since we had a free period together, he's been acting all weird and nice. It's actually more annoying than flattering, because honestly, I think that it's a little bit all overrated."

Hermione nodded. "I understand, but judging by how Harry's been acting, I'm pretty sure that he likes you. Boys tend to be rather annoying when they develop crushes."

"You got that right!" I groaned. I had now finished my breakfast, and was licking off the stickiness out of my fingers. "I don't like him that way, though. In fact, I'm not sure even if I like him as a friend."

"Just ignore him, then," Hermione advised.

"Mmkay," I sighed. I looked up at her and gave her a small smile. "You give good relationship advice. Ever had a boyfriend?"

Hermione turned beet red, and cast her eyes down shyly. "No, not at all."

"Like anyone?" I pressed on. I couldn't help it, I was curious!

She looked back up, and made eye contact with me seriously. "Well...yeah...but you can't tell anyone!"

"Promise," I smiled, crossing my heart. "Now tell me!"

"Ronald," she mumbled. My grin got bigger. Out of all the people in Gryffindor, Hermione liked _RON? _That was unbelievably cute!

"Awww! You guys would be an amazing couple!" I gushed.

Hermione grinned. "Thanks...I just need him to realize it though..." she sighed a little sadly.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders in comfort. "Well, guys are a hella lot stupid...and slow. I'm sure that he'll come around someday."

Hermione nodded. "I hope so." She gave me a smile. "How about you, Alia? Do you like anyone?"

I looked away quickly, not trusting myself to hold my emotions inside. I was a very expressive person, and Draco used to tell me that he could read me like a book. Most of the times, it was an annoying factor to have, because people could tell exactly what you were thinking. "Oh...well, I don't know..."

"Oh...I understand. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Hermione murmured softly.

"Thanks," I muttered. I looked back at her, and could see the disappointment in her eyes. I sighed, wondering how she'd react if she knew. Draco Malfoy was surely her enemy, and if we were now friends, would she judge me for being his ex best friend? "Hermione, the only reason why I'm so hesitant on telling anyone, is because I'm not sure what their reaction will be. If I told you, would you have a bad reaction?"

"Well, it depends on what it is..." Hermione said slowly. "I mean, if you said that you were a Death Eater or something, I probably won't have the best reaction..."

I laughed. "Well, it's not as bad as that-well, it actually might." I took a deep breath, wondering if I actually wanted to tell her. I didn't want to, because the hurt from the event still remained with me, but at the same time, I did want to confide in someone-anyone, just to get it off of my chest.

"I promise that I'll let you say the whole thing before saying anything," Hermione whispered. She linked her arm through mine in comfort, giving me a smile.

"Alright...if you say so," I answered, a little uneasiness entering the pit of my stomach. Why was this so hard? I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and tried to smile. "Well, it's not exactly _liking _anyone...but it has to do with why I ran out from Potions the other day."

"Oh, yeah, that..." Hermione muttered. "That scared everyone-even Malfoy. He seemed pretty upset about the whole ordeal, I even saw him punch one of the walls, that's how upset he seemed."

I perked up, a new hope entering my eyes. "He remembered me?" I whispered. The hope was there in my voice, raw and fresh.

"Remember you...?" Hermione asked, confusion entering her tone.

I looked at her, my face devoid of any emotion. "The truth is, Hermione...Draco and I were best friends when we were younger."

"WHAT?" Hermione shrieked, springing up. "You and that _git? _That bloody ferret? That's not even possible!"

"Yes, it is," I said, giving her a sad smile. "We were close, Draco and I...but that was before he was like this. Believe it or not, Draco wasn't always a git."

Hermione shook her head. "That's impossible."

I raised an eyebrow. "Is it?" When she didn't respond, I sighed. "I know why you think that...because I sometimes think the same thing myself. Draco was the sweetest, most caring guy in the whole entire world...all before he came to Hogwarts." I walked over to my trunk, digging through it until I found the two halves of the picture that I had torn up before.

"_Reparo,_" I murmured.

The picture once again came back to the perfect quidditch scene that it was before. I handed the picture to Hermione, a small smile on my face. "You see, that was me and Draco."

A look of shock came over Hermione's features as she saw the whole scene of the picture play out. "That was you and...Malfoy?" She whispered the last part.

I nodded. "Yeah...hard to believe, right?"

"You two were so cute!" She squealed, her eyes shining. "Awww, you kissed his cheek!"

I rolled my eyes and laughed. "Oh Hermione..."

She looked up towards me, and her face became instantly embarrassed. "Oh, sorry..." she gave me a sheepish smile. "Continue on with your story?"

I chuckled. "Well, as soon as we got to Hogwarts, Draco changed instantly. His smiles became smirks, and he turned cold. He called me _mudblood _every single time that he saw me. I tried to preserve our friendship, because i knew that he wasn't a jerk, he just acted like one, but in the end, it was just too much for me..." I sighed, taking sudden interest into looking at the hem of my burgundy bed sheet. "And to make it worse, I had started to develop feelings for him...I had started to love him."

If Hermione was shocked before, she was dumbfounded now. "You loved Malfoy? After all he had done to you?"

I sighed and nodded. "I was in love with who he was before, the sweet and caring guy that would do anything for me. I miss that guy so much now, much more than anything." Tears started to prick at the ends of my eyelids.

"And...you still like him now?" Hermione guessed, keeping her tone kind and gentle. I nodded, pressing my mouth into a tight line. "So that's why you ran out in Potions? Because you just couldn't take it?"

"You're so much smarter than people credit you for, Hermione," I laughed. "Yeah, that's why."

"Why don't you tell Professor Slughorn to change partners then?" she questioned.

I shook my head. "Well, as much as I am not feeling so good about working with Draco, I kind of want to, you know? Besides, he doesn't even remember me, so he won't remember anything. It can just be a clean and professional relationship."

"I see..." Hermione replied. "I still think that you should switch partners if he's causing you so much pain, though."

"I'll consider that," I sighed.

"But, are you feeling better now? Are you coming to Potions today?"

I paused, wondering the same things myself. Did I feel well enough to go to Potions? Could I sit next to him without feeling a tidal wave of hurt consume me every second? I wondered about these things for a few seconds, not missing Hermione's gaze on my face. Finally, I nodded.

"You sure?" Hermione whispered gently. She laid a hand on my arm. "You don't have to if you don't want to, Alia."

I nodded again, a small smile coming onto my face. "I'm sure."

Was I really sure? Merlin's beard no! **But sometimes, you have to take chances in life. Otherwise, you will never know what'll happen.**

"Alia, are you _sure?_" Hermione asked me for a the billionth time. We were outside the doors to the Potions classroom, the first ones to arrive so far.

I ground my teeth, scowling at her. I was beginning to regret telling her anything. Sure, it took it off of my chest, but it was a little annoying how she seemed to fuss over me for the silliest things. "Yes, I _am_, Hermione." It came out as a growl.

"Alright, alright. Merlin, I'm just making sure," she muttered.

I rolled my eyes.

"Students, we are going to change seats so you can sit with your partner for the Potions project," Slughorn informed us. We stared blankly back and him and he clucked his tongue. "Well? What are you waiting for? Get on it!"

There was a flurry of movement from every student as they all grudgingly moved to sit besides their partner. I bit my lip, looking down all the way as I moved to Draco's table. All eyes were on me, and murmurs rose from all the other students-even the Slytherins. I slid into my seat, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes as I did so. I moved my hair over my shoulder, making a curtain to separate me and Draco and started straight ahead.

So far, so good...except that it wasn't.

As soon as I felt his presence near me, I could feel my throat start to dry. His warmth was all I needed, just even once touch would've been nice. I could hear his heart beating in a slow rhythm right next to mine, and I closed my eyes at their beats in sync. Were his eyes on me right now? Was he thinking about me? I had a tendency to obsess about the littlest things that he did, hoping that they would make a difference.

But my mind had more common sense than my heart. And what did I really want? I wanted him to love me-or at the very least not hate me, like he seemed to do with a passion. Why couldn't he remember me?

Oh yeah, because he was a selfish and pompous git now.

"I'd like for you to talk with your partner and see if you can agree on concocting a potion. You'll have time in class over the next two weeks to work on your projects, as well as time out of class if you choose to. However, the project is due in two months time." I groaned when I realized that I would have to talk to Draco. Could Slughorn invent anymore ways of torturing us? He clearly had no idea about the whole Gryffindor and Slytherin being enemies. "You may begin."

Neither Draco nor I moved. I could hear him breathing quietly besides me, and I knew that he must've heard me. I closed my eyes, hoping that Slughorn would be too busy breaking up fights to notice that Draco and I weren't going to do anything.

I could only hope, because what I said to Hermione, I was not ready to talk to Draco. Not one bit.

-Draco-

The girl actually managed to come to Potions today, a feat that I thought was highly funny and stupid at the same time. I wondered if a similar episode would happen today, and she would run out sobbing like last time. I frowned as I remembered that moment...I still had no idea what happened. Did I ever do anything to her? Other than the usual, you know.

It seemed that Slughorn liked to torture his students, because as soon as class had started, we were directed to sit next to our project partner. I looked at the girl from the corner of my eye. She had closed her eyes and stiffened, holding her textbooks in a tight grasp. I smirked, wondering if I could get that tight little frame to get loose under my grasp.

Now it was my turn to close my eyes and I quickly cleared that thought from my head. _She is a __Gryffindor! What the bloody hell is your problem! _I screamed to myself.

I heard her as she shuffled over to my table, looking down at the ground the whole entire time. I heard the scrape of the chair against the stone floor and winced at the noise. I felt her presence as soon as she sat down, and her warmth as she flipped her hair over her shoulder so I wouldn't be able to see her. Then, she faced ahead, taking deep breaths as if to calm herself.

I fought against myself for looking at her. Whenever I did glance it her, it was out of the corner of my eye. She had stiffened again, but I didn't really see the reason why.

Slughorn announced that we now had to talk to our partner to figure out what Potion we were supposed to cook up. I groaned internally, and I saw that the girl's shoulders had sagged slightly. She seemed as depressed as I was.

Neither of us moved as the lesson started to go on. Slughorn had to break up many fights, and I chuckled as I saw Pansy and Granger hit it off pretty hard. The fights had put me in a good mood, but whenever I looked back over at the girl, my mood started to ebb down into one of irritation. I couldn't take the silence anymore, she was now getting onto my nerves.

"Are you going to do something productive, or what, _mudblood!_" I snapped at her, crossing my arms across my chest.

She stiffened again, then turned to face me slowly. Once I got to look at her again, I noticed my heart beat slightly faster in my chest. I cursed.

"Why don't _you _do something, Draco?" she snarled quietly.

I was taken aback by her boldness, and so it took me a few seconds to sum up a reaction. "Who the _fuck _are you to tell me to do something?"

Her soft brown eyes turned hard as soon as I said those words. A twinge of fear entered my chest, but I quickly abolished it. Who was I to fear this little girl?

"Who the fuck am _I?_" she growled. "Do you honestly not remember _anything?_ What are you, daft? Can you honestly sit here and say that you don't remember me?"

"You are insane," I muttered, narrowing my eyes at her. "I have _never _seen you in my life before, and bloody glad that I don't know you! I don't know what you think you have against me, but that's all a bloody lie!"

She laughed, and the sound made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. "_I'm _insane? I don't forget the person that I have spent my time with for the past 11 years! I don't forget the person that I have known since I had been in diapers!"

To say that I was shocked was a bloody understatement. I had no utter idea what this girl what talking about, honest to Merlin. I had known her since we were both small children? I had known her for the past 11 years? None of this made sense to me. If she made such a big deal about remembering who she was, why couldn't I remember?

She took my speechlessness to an advantage and continued on talking. I was too frozen to put my hand over her mouth. "Honestly, you are such a git! I can't believe you turned out this way! You used to not give a damn about the different blood types, but they _poisoned _you! They poisoned you, _Draco!_" Tears started to leak into her tone, and brim up in her eyes.

_Bloody hell, please don't make her cry again! _I begged.

"Your father, you started to listen to him, and that's when everything started to go wrong!" she moaned. "And I let you listen to him! He was the one that _poisoned _you, Draco. Why did you start listening to him?"

By now, she had gotten hysterical, and her voice was cracking multiple times. Thank Merlin the classroom was loud enough with all the arguments, otherwise we would've been overheard.

When she brought up my father, I had snapped out of my daze. She was saying that _he _had poisoned me, and started making me become bitter. I vaguely wondered if she was right. Did he poison me? Was I better than this before?

The girl had stopped being so hysterical, but was now hiccuping. In any other situation, with any other person, I would've found that to be funny, but I wasn't in the mood to be laughing now. I could barely get a word out, I was much too shocked by her multiple outbursts.

"But out of everything, Draco, do you know what hurts?" she whispered.

I bit my lip, unsure if I should answer her question. This girl reminded me of Professor Trelawny and her crazy prophecies. Maybe they were related, that would explain the craziness.

She continued on, oblivious to my state of confusion. "What hurts the most is how you didn't even care. You act like it's all so easy, but that's probably because you don't remember anything. Is it really that easy, Draco? Do you honestly remember _nothing?_"

I wanted to answer, but I held my tongue, wondering what she would say next. Maybe if I let her continue and wear herself out, I could have an idea of what she actually was talking about.

I heard her sigh, and looked at her curiously. Her brown eyes weren't hard anymore, but they were sad. I could get lost in their pools of sadness if I wasn't careful.

"I guess I must be scaring you, and I apologize for that. I just miss talking to you, and hanging out with you when we were little. Of course, that's when you used to smile more, not smirk, and you used to have the warmest gray eyes ever. I miss hugging you, and feeling your warmth. I miss how our daddies used to joke around, and how our moms used to laugh at us. I miss when you took me to your backyard, and threaten to beat me up, but you actually never did. And I miss the times that you used to get the snitch before me when we played quidditch, but you always gave me the snitch because I was sad. Are you sure that you remember nothing?"

I said nothing, I couldn't say anything. I was physically incapable of moving my mouth. I could feel my eyes widen as I processed through her words. I felt a flicker of remembrance in my brain, but when I tried to chase after it, it started to evade me.

She finally became quiet, and started to look at me. I felt uncomfortable under her gaze, but I finally found my voice to answer her question.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't remember any of that," I whispered. I detected a note of sadness in my tone, and recoiled in shock. Why was I sad about not remembering? Why did this little Gryffindor mudblood matter so much to me?

The girl sighed again, her eyes growing even more doleful. "That's what I was afraid of..." She closed her eyes, and I felt her frame sag a little bit more. "Draco, I don't know why you don't remember, but I certainly do...and I'll enlighten you."

I waited for her to finish what she was saying.

Her eyes opened again, and her mouth twisted into a rye smile. "Draco, the truth is, you and I were best friends five years ago."

My breath caught in my throat as I heard those words. I stared at her in disbelief, hating the smile that was on her face. "I-I don't believe you!" I yelled shakily.

She shrugged. "It's true, just ask your mother. I'm sure that she remembers."

I wrenched myself from my chair, pointing at her with my wand. "That's not true! That's all a bloody lie!" I couldn't have been friends with this mudblood. There was no way.

This time, she didn't say anything, but just wordlessly handed me a photograph. A boy and a girl were in the photo, playing quidditch. The boy grabbed the snitch, and the girl started to look sad. The boy handed the girl the snitch, and she kissed his cheek. The boy smiled shyly, and the picture replayed again. I gasped when I saw the the boy was me, and the girl was the one that sat next from me right now.

"What kind of witchcraft is this?" I yelled at her. I tore up the picture, throwing them in the direction of the girl's face. I ignored the tears that flowed freely down her face, and how depressed she looked. "This is all a fucking lie!"

"Draco, please!" she begged me. "Please, don't do this!" Her hands latched onto my arm, preventing me from leaving.

By now, the classroom head become deathly silent, and I saw all eyes on us. _Perfect timing, _I thought.

I wrenched away from her gasp. "Keep your hands off of me, you filthy mudblood! Keep you and your dark magic away from me!" I headed towards the exit of the classroom, not caring enough to look behind me.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

-Draco-

I walked towards the Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement, holding a bird in my hand. I opened the door and placed the bird inside, wondering if I had finally managed to fix the stupid thing. This was part one of my assignment, fixing the cabinet so the other Death Eaters could get into the school.

The task still put me on the edge, and I was starting to feel guilty about doing it. But did I have a choice? No. Either I could let my mother die, or let Dumbledore die. The choice wasn't that hard to make...Sorry professor.

That day in Potions still lingered in my memory, and it seemed as if that photograph was imprinted into my very brain. Whenever I closed my eyes, I would see it replay again and again, forcing me to open my eyes and grind me teeth together. It was causing me to pull off many all nighters, and I was dead tired now.

The most simple thing that I could've done was ask my mother if this Alia girl seemed real. Did I have her as my best friend years ago? Or was it just one big lie? She was a mudblood! How dare my parents let me associate with someone as low as her class?

The only problem was, if Alia wasn't my best friend, then my mother would become suspicious about her, and maybe have the Dark Lord look into her background. I couldn't let that happen.

I froze in surprise, then gritted my teeth together, making a fist. _There I go again! Caring for her as if she really matters to me! _I growled, punching the cabinet closed in frustration. It shut with a bang, making me jump. I sighed. Merlin, I was getting agitated for no reason.

But honestly...why was I caring so much about her?

What made her so important to me?

_Maybe an owl isn't such a bad idea... _I mused. I decided that there wasn't any harm in asking mother, so I headed to the Owlry and called up Dragon, my owl. Ironic name? Yes, I know.

_Dear Mother, _I wrote.

_How have you been? School is so boring this year, I tell you, Hogwarts is _really _going downhill. Snape has been appointed Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and some fool named Slughorn has been appointed as Potions master. All he does is lick up to Potter, it's quite annoying, really._

_I certainly hope that The Dark Lord hasn't given you too much trouble. I am working my hardest to make sure that you are comfortable. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that we have honor in our family, do not worry._

_However, this letter wasn't just a ploy to get me to talk to you. I actually have a question in mind. In Potions, I have been assigned to work with this stupid girl named Alia Morgan. She claims that we __used to be best friends-but to me that's a lie. She's been wailing about how stupid I am not to remember..and she even has a photograph of proof that we used to be together._

_Why do I not remember, mother?_

_Was Alia even my friend so start with?_

_I am so confused._

_~ Your Son, Draco Malfoy._

As I finished up my letter, I felt a lot better-lighter in fact. It seemed as if talking to my mother was all I needed to feel better. As I watched Dragon fly away, I hoped that my mother would reply soon. I wasn't sure if I could face Alia till after I got her reply.

When I came back from dinner, I headed to the Room of Requirement again, but the bird was still there, chirping merrily. I breathed a sigh of relief, the cupboard was still broken. The truth was, I wanted to stall fixing the cabinet as long as possible. The last thing I wanted was to have Death Eaters at Hogwarts, as crazy as that might sound. I didn't want to face killing Dumbledore so quickly, I didn't want to know what would happen when everyone discovered my part in the plan. What would happen when the Death Eaters got into Hogwarts? What would happen then?

As I prepared to go to bed, Dragon came flying back to me, a letter attached onto his claws. I bit my lips to keep from smiling in excitement. I couldn't wait to see what mother had written.

I ushered Dragon in, then fed him a treat before cracking open the letter quickly.

_Dearest Draco,_

_How many times do I have to tell you not to send me letters like this! The Dark Lord, as you know, is inhabiting our house. What if he comes across one of these letters? It would be the end of you and me! From now on, if you wish to speak to me, do so in a different manner!_

I winced at the shrillness of her words, praying that nothing had happened to her for replying to my letter.

_However, we are in luck this time, because the Dark Lord has stepped out for sometime. Next time, please do not send me Dragon...I fear that he has become quite recognizable._

I glanced over at Dragon and let out a sigh, knowing that she was right. Dragon was pure white, and would most easily be discovered anywhere. But I couldn't afford to get another owl...and Dragon had been faithful to me all these past years. I sighed. Becoming a Death Eater caused so many complications.

_Nevertheless, I am quite glad that you wrote to me. My darling, I have been worried sick about you! I certainly hope that you have been keeping well. I would be beside myself if you had gotten hurt. _A smile tugged onto the edges of my lips. _Typical mother. Always worrying, _I chuckled.

_On regards of your studies, young man, you better be keeping your grades up! I don't care if you're a Death Eater now, or if you have a blubbering idiot as a professor. If I do see __**one **__failing grade on your NEWTs, I will take away all of your broom privileges! _I shook my head at this, frowning. Honestly, out of everything, she cared about me _studying?_

_To answer your true purpose of writing this letter, I must ask why you want to know. You haven't been around those filthy mudbloods, have you? What would your father say? Well, never mind about him, he's in Azkaban now. Truth be told, I'm sort of glad that he's gone...he was becoming a bit rough and aggressive._

I stared at the letter in bewilderment. I didn't know that mother had harbored those feelings for father. He was rough and aggressive? That seemed like him, but I thought that mother had always ignored those aspects of him.

_What did you say that girl's name was? Alia? Alia Morgan. Well darling, this will take to be a lot to take in, but that girl was telling the truth. Long ago, before you attended Hogwarts, you two were the most inseparable of best friends. I had gone to school with her mother, and it just broke my heart to hold a grudge against her, just because she married a filthy muggle. Your father didn't know about your friendship, and the day he did, he flew into a rage. He tortured you, baby boy, he tortured you. I just couldn't stand to see it! I fought against him, till he finally gave in to my pleas. You were almost dead by the time that I found you...and you kept murmuring that girl's name over and over. I didn't want to see you hurt again, so I erased a little bit of your memory till you gradually forgot all about her. Of course, I felt guilty about it...but wasn't it for the best? Who cares what happened to her, when you were safe? After all...she was just a filthy little mudblood._

The letter dropped from my hands, and I didn't bother to read the rest of it. I had gone into shock a lot of times this week, but this felt as if I had been blasted with an electric current. Out of all the feelings that I felt, dismay won over all the others.

_She had been telling the truth...and I threw it all back to her face, _I realized.

But then again, why did she matter anymore? Why should I feel anything anymore? Sure, we were friends long ago, but that didn't mean anything...did it?

"I refuse to apologize for my behavior," I murmured, picking up the letter again. "After all, it wasn't my fault at all during this."

I read through the rest of the letter, but it was nothing compared to the last paragraph that I had read. When I reached the end of the letter, a lump appeared in my throat.

_My darling Draco, please be safe. Keep in mind that I will always love you._

_- Mother_

I wondered if she was saying the truth, and if she actually did love me. Did anyone love me anymore? And even more pressing...was I ever loved to begin with?

-Alia-

_I give up, _I thought miserably. What was I giving up on? The one that I had placed most hope in: Draco Malfoy. I was done with him. He was a hopeless case. Obviously he didn't care about me, or didn't even bother to remember me...so why should I keep caring about him?

When Malfoy walked out of Potions class that day, (yes, now I call him Malfoy. Calling him _Draco_ would imply that I cared about him.) all conversations had stopped. Once again, I found myself at the center of attention. This time, I didn't run away, I held my chin up high. The staring contest only lasted a couple of minutes, me versus the rest of the Potions class. But when they realized that I honestly didn't care what they thought anymore, they all turned away from me and continued working.

Slughorn pulled me to his desk after class was over, a frown was on his wrinkled face. "Ms Morgan, please do tell me what if going on between you and Mr. Malfoy! It is disturbing the rest of the class, and prohibiting you to work on your project together!"

I had just looked at him calmly, but inside, I felt like crying..._dying _more likely. "Nothing is going on between us, sir. It's more personal, and family matters. But...that is all behind us now. From now on, I will keep a strictly professional relationship with him."

Slughorn sighed, staring at me warily. "Alright, whatever you say, Ms. Morgan. I will trust your judgement on that." With a nod, he let me go.

Hermione was waiting for me outside the classroom, a look of pity on her face. That just made me feel worse. I didn't need anyone's pity, or wallow in self pity rather.

"I'm sorry for what happened today, Alia," she murmured kindly, squeezing my shoulder.

I shook my head, shaking off her shoulder. _No pity, _I reminded myself sternly. "It's fine, Hermione. Really. I guess that Dr-Malfoy doesn't think I'm worth his time anymore."

She just nodded, whispering that she was sorry again.

I hadn't seen Malfoy around ever since that incident. He didn't bother showing up to Potions, and from what I heard, he wasn't attending any of his other classes either. Physically, I tried to make it seem like it didn't affect me, but mentally, I was silently praying that I wasn't the cause for his disappearance.

But honestly, who else would be at fault? _I _was the one that had caused him any pain over the past few weeks. _I _was the one that continuously being persistent and forcing him to remember things he obviously couldn't. _I _was the one that forced him to go towards the insanity of yelling at me, and probably shocking him into not coming to class anymore. _No one else _had done any of this to him, therefore it was _my _fault for his disappearance.

And apparently, I wasn't the only one that agreed with myself. A week later, Pansy and her little gang started to pay me a visit while I was at the library, trying to to find a potion that I could do by myself. Since Malfoy wasn't bothering to show up, I had to take measures into my own hands so I wouldn't fail the class.

"Hey mudblood!" she sneered, cocking her hands on her hips. About three to five other girls surrounded her, and I recognized Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis to be among them. All of them smirked at me and flipped their hair.

"Hey pugface," I answered coolly. Back when Malfoy and I used to be friends, we would always make fun of Pansy and call her pugface. Even after all these years, the name stuck by her.

Pansy's face turned bright pink with anger, and her eyes narrowed down into slits. _Ha, I bet that she didn't think I'd say anything. _"Don't you _dare _call me that, you bitch!" she screeched. "Just because you and Draco were supposedly close before, doesn't mean that you mean anything to him now!"

I froze when I heard her words. _She knew? _"What are you talking about, Pansy?"

She snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't play dumb with me, Morgan. I heard what was going on in Potions."

"And?" I goaded her. _Don't let her see how much it affected you. Don't let her see how much it hurt you. _I worked to keep my tone cool and controlled, trying to show her that she wasn't bothering me. "I never thought you'd go so low to be an eavesdropper, pugface."

"_DO NOT call me that!_" she growled again.

I put the Potions textbook I had in my hand down, and leaned across the table staring at Pansy dead in the eye. "Listen Pansy, and listen good. I don't have anything to do with Malfoy anymore. Sure, I hoped that he would remember me, and _maybe _we could've gone back to the friendship that we had before, but obviously that's not going to happen. So lay off my case. Everyone was right; Draco doesn't want me." I then picked up the textbook again and started to walk about the library, leaving the stunned group behind me.

"Yeah, that's right, run away! Why would he want a filthy mudblood like you?" Pansy yelled after me, recovering from her shock.

I promptly ignored her and headed towards the Gryffindor dorm.

"Alia...can I talk to you?"

I looked up and sighed, raising an eyebrow at my visitor. "What do you want, Harry?"

"To apologize," he announced. He motioned towards the empty seat right next to me. "Mind if I sit down?"

I shrugged. He took this as an invitation to do so. I shifted over so that there was a large amount of space between us. Remember the saying "to forgive and forget"? Yeah, well, I was always one to "grudge and hold on."

Harry didn't say anything, just continued to look at me with pleading eyes. I felt uncomfortable under his gaze, it was as if he was looking at me as if I were a rare specimen that he wanted to capture. There was a certain hunger apparent in his eyes that made my stomach twist into knots.

After about five minutes of this silence, I couldn't take it anymore. Either he had to say something, or get the hell out of here. "I'll ask you again, Harry. What do you want?"

"To apologize," he repeated. I threw my hands up in the air, exasperation leaking into my movements.

"Then apologize already! I have at least a thousand better things that I could be doing, but you're in the way of me doing anything right now!" I ignored the hurt gaze that he gave me and started to get up from the couch. This was a total waste of my time.

"No! Alia, wait!" he begged me, grabbing my arm. I looked back down at him, narrowing my eyes.

"Harry, _please _get this over with."

"I'm sorry," he said simply. He locked gazes with me, and his green eyes held no trace of amusement. "I'm sorry."

I just nodded, still keeping calm. "It's alright, Harry." His eyes searched mine for emotion, but he ended up finding nothing. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed in disappointment.

"Can you please let me go now?" I pressed, glancing towards my arm. He pressed his lips together and nodded, letting his hand fall limply down. "Thanks," I whispered softly.

He just nodded again, and I turned to leave. When I reached the stairs to the girl's dorm, I looked back, and Harry was still on the couch, his head in his hands. A spark of guilt started to course through me, and I almost went back to let him give me a full fledged apology...almost.

It was my turn to sigh as I turned back around. I never was one of those girls who always had boy troubles, but this year, I seemed to have plenty of them. Plenty that I single handedly had caused.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

-Alia-

Draco continued his act of disappearance as the weeks went by, and we all gradually became used to the fact that he simply wasn't going to show up. Even the Slytherins didn't have a clue where he wandered off to. Slughorn had given up on finding his whereabouts, and I had given up hope on him coming back. Everything progressed on, as if Draco just simply left for good.

"How far are you in your Potions project?" Hermione asked me. We were walking towards the Potions classroom.

"Nowhere," I sighed. "There isn't anything that is truly interesting me..."

She gave me an incredulous look. "Have you even started?"

I gave her a weak smile, knowing that she'd flip as soon as she hears. "Err...nope?"

"ALIA!" she exploded. She yanked me to a stop in the middle of the hallway and put her hands on her hips, giving me her most evil glare. "This project is worth at least _half _of our semester grade! If you don't start soon, you're going to fail!"

I waved her off, taking no concern of her words. "Don't worry about it, Hermione. I'll be fine."

"Yeah, fine enough to fail," I heard her mutter. I ignored her, heading into the classroom with a confident stride.

Ever since Malfoy had disappeared, I had grown more confident. Maybe it was just the fact that nobody tormented me anymore with him gone, or the fact that I didn't have to talk to him or anything since he had disappeared. Well, whatever it was, I was mighty glad that it had happened.

So imagine my surprise, when I walk into see all the Slytherins crowding around my table, all laughing and hugging a certain platinum hair colored boy. My heart plummeted down into my stomach, and I bolted towards the door again. Hermione was just coming in, but I snagged her across the waist and dragged her behind a wall.

"Alia, what the bloody hell are you doing?" she gasped, holding a hand over her heart. "You scared me!"

"He's here," I whispered. The same fear that I had buried long ago rose up in my chest again, preventing me from speaking any louder than a whisper.

Hermione looked at me for a few seconds in confusion, wondering what I was talking about. But a few seconds later, realization dawned on her face and she looked at me with sympathy. "What are you going to do?"

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I had almost said that I was going to skip Potions, but that would surely show that I would've found out and have been bothered with Draco's presence once again. Wasn't I already bothered though? Here I was out in the hall, freaking out and trying to get Hermione to help me calm down. Was I bothered? Most likely...yes.

"I don't know..." I admitted, taking my time to say the words. Sure, I had options, but right now my mind was successfully convincing me that each one would end in disaster. _Go in and take a seat next to him? What if he hates my presence, and starts yelling at me for making his life miserable? Try and escape? What if everyone then sees how much he affects me and calls me weak? _My legs started to turn into jell-o and I gripped the wall, trying to remain upright.

"Alia, are you okay?" Hermione's concerned voice brought me out of my reverie as I snapped my head up to look at her. As if I had gotten out of a trance, strength started seeping back into my limbs and I could stand upright again. I nodded slowly, squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin up.

"I'm going in." My decision was final, I would _not _let Draco control my life.

A flicker of relief showed on Hermione's face and she nodded excitedly, ushering me into the room. "Alright, good luck." She took a seat next to Pansy, who flipped her hair and sent me a glare. I ignored her and slid into my seat, being careful not to look at Malfoy. I knew that once I looked at him, I would lose it. I couldn't afford to lose it, not again, and especially not in front of him.

"Today we will take a break from working on our projects and focus on making another potion, the Forgetfulness Potion. Like the name says, it will cause the drinker to forget something that has happen to them in a short amount of time." He glanced around the classroom, a reproachful look on his face. "Remember that we _do not _use Potions on our classmates, and ingredients are in the cabinet. I will judge each of the potions at the end of class and see which table has the best."

I choked slightly on the breath I was taking when I heard him say _table. _I had to work with him..._AGAIN? _Making a potion involved talking, communication! I could hear my heart rate start to climb as I thought about talking to him, my palms turning sweaty. I focused on finding the potion in my textbook, trying to calm myself.

_It's just Malfoy. Chill. _I instructed myself. Frankly, that was easier said than done.

"So, I trust you two will be able to work just fine with each other today?" I heard Slughorn ask us. I looked up to see him raising an eyebrow at the two of us, and I nodded.

"Yes sir."

"Good," he smiled, obviously pleased. I watched as he turned and headed towards the other tables, then looked back down into my textbook.

"We need Lethe Water, Valerian Springs, Mistletoe Berries, and Standard Ingredient," I read aloud. I tensed as I felt Malfoy come in closer, his warm breath hitting the side of my neck.

"Aren't you going to get it?" he asked me, making me jump. I hadn't realized that he had gotten so close.

"You have legs, don't you?" I answered irritably. As soon as I realized what I had just said, I covered my mouth in quiet shock. No one was allowed to retort to Malfoy, i vaguely wondered what nasty thing he was going to say right back to me.

I didn't hear anything.

I looked up, wondering why he wasn't bullying me or calling me nasty names-he almost always did that to anyone who provoked him. His mouth was open, making him look like he wanted to say anything, but nothing came out. Finally, he just closed his mouth and looked at the ground. "Right, I'll do that. Sorry."

Shock hit me in the face like a tidal wave. _Did Draco Lucius Malfoy just say sorry to me? _It was almost too weird to believe.

I was still standing there in shock when he came back with all the materials. Neither of us made eye contact, but I could tell that we were behind from hearing the gurgling of the potions from the other stations. I wasn't sure what to do around him, and I could tell that he felt the same way. It was like we were in a game, and every single move that either of us made would affect the other player. I sighed, deciding to make the first move and make the potion. We didn't have enough time for us to be standing there and gaping at each other, we needed to get it done quickly.

"Two drops of Lethe Water, Two Valerian Springs..." I murmured, dropping each of the ingredients into the cauldron. "Two Mistletoe berries..." I looked around for the Standard Ingredient and frowned when I didn't see it. "Where's the...?"

"How much of it do we need?"

I shrieked, jumping at least ten feet in the air. Turning around, I glared at Malfoy and placed a hand to my heart, trying to calm it's erratic beating. Malfoy was smirking at me, like the little git he was. "Stop doing that!"

"Doing what?" he asked innocently. "I'm just being a good partner, like Slughorn instructed me to."

I glared harder at him, placing my hands on my hips. "If you want to be so helpful, then why don't you finish the potion!" I snapped. I had enough of his little tricks and games. Right now, his very presence was keeping me on an edge.

He stared at me cooly, seemingly unaffected by my words. "I would finish it, but why should I waste my energy on something that has no chance anyway?"

I stared at him, wondering if he had lost his mind. "What are you talking about, Malfoy?"

"I'm saying that you did the potion wrong, which is quite sad, really. We learned how to do this in First Year, Alia," he grinned. "Don't you remember not to dump all the ingredients in all at once? You're supposed to let it sit for sometime, otherwise the potion could explode."

I looked quickly at the cauldron, and sure enough, the potion was bubbling dangerously and turning an ugly pink color. The bubbles started to rise quickly and I stepped back, letting a gasp tumble from my lips. I looked quickly at Malfoy and hated the way that he was smirking at me, as if he was enjoying my mistake and hoping that the potion would harm me in some way. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure that was _exactly _he was thinking about.

As the potion started to gurgle and spill over the edge of the cauldron, I squeaked and stumbled back to hide behind Malfoy. "Well, aren't you going to stop it?"

"Why should I?" he asked me carelessly. "I'm really enjoying this."

I smacked him on the arm, causing him to wince and glare at me. "Go fix it! _Before _we all die!"

His smirk grew more pronounced. "What's wrong in dying? Maybe I want all of us to die."

I huffed, crossing my arms across my chest. "_Fine! _If we die, it's all your fault!"

"Really? I'm not the one that made the killer potion!" he retorted. "They have instructions for a reason, mudblood."

A prickle of hurt appeared in my chest as I heard him call me that. I had thought that were past the name calling-at least for this class, but I guess that he couldn't resist an oppurtunity to hurt me. I ignored him, shoving him towards the potion. "Go fix it!"

"Don't touch me!" he hissed, shoving my arm back. I huffed again, shooting him an angry glare.

"Is there a problem here?" Both of looked over to see Slughorn frowning at us. I groaned, what was it with this professor and his obsession with bothering this table? True, it was nice of him to be concerned, but why always _our _table?

"No sir," we answered simutaneously, then looked at each other in surprise. My heart thumped unevenly in my chest, and my lungs felt devoid of any air. I grimaced. I couldn't believe that he was making me feel this way..._again.  
><em>  
>Slughorn's eyebrows came together in suspicion as he looked back and forth between us. When he didn't find anything he thought was inappropriate, a hint of a smile started to appear on his face. "Well, alright then. I'm glad that nothing is going on. How is your potion coming along? If you have done it right, then it should be a light lilac color." He started to bend towards the cauldren, totally unaware of it's current state.<p>

"Professor, don't!" I shrieked, striking out my hand in a lame effort to try to stop him.

_BOOM! _The potion exploded in Slughorn's face, catapaulting him into the far wall of the dungeon.

Screams were heard from the other students as they witnessed what had happened. My mouth was hanging open in horror, my blood was turned into ice. Slughorn was dead, and it was all my fault.

One of the Slytherins, Blaise I think was his name, walked forward slowly with a grim expression on his face. He poked Slughorn with the end of his wand, then recoiled. "He's still breathing, but he looks really bad. He's got a lot of burns," he announced.

A shocked silence soon followed, nobody made a move to do anything. Even the Slytherins were speechless for once. I buried my face in my hands, trying to keep the tears from flowing down. Couldn't I do anything right? Why did I always have to screw up and get everyone else hurt?

I heard Draco move from beside me, his footsteps indicating that he was heading towards Slughorn's body. I peeked through my fingers and saw him kneel against the body and stare at it intently. Then he looked up towards the whole class, an undescribable emotion hidden in his eyes. "Well, are we going to help him or not?"

"Leave him alone, Malfoy!" I turned to see Harry fighting his way through the crowd, pointing his wand towards him. "Don't hurt him!"

Malfoy started to stand again, clenching his jaw. "Does it look like I have my wand out, Potter? Why would I want to hurt him?"

"I don't know, maybe because you're a Death Eater!" Harry yelled. Gasps arose from everyone, and I was pretty sure mine was the loudest. A hundred thoughts were running through my head right then. _Malfoy a Death Eater? Please let Harry be lying...  
><em>  
>"I assure you, Potter, I am not a Death Eater," Malfoy said as calmly as he could. But I saw his hand twitching towards his wand, and i knew that he was far from being calm.<p>

Harry started to laugh. "Not a Death Eater? Yeah right! I bet you were the one that made the potion explode so that Slughorn would be out of your way! Honestly, what did you think he would do? Reveal Voldemort's weakness?"

"I didn't make the potion, Potter."

"Really?" Ron retorted, entering the brawl. "Then who did, Malfoy? I'm pretty sure that Alia didn't do anything. She wouldn't do anything like that."

I bit my lip, wondering if I should go out and confess. It truly wasn't Malfoy's fault. _He _wasn't the one that put in all the ingredients carelessly. _He _wasn't the one that didn't read the textbook instructions and just dumped everything in. _He _wasn't the one that almost killed Slughorn.

"Actually, Ron," I murmured softly, looking at the floor. "It was all my fault."

There was silence as he took that in. When he spoke again, his voice was pained. "W-what? Alia, how could you?"

"I didn't read the instuctions carefully enough...I just dumped in all the ingredients and it started to all go wrong." I closed my eyes, my voice trembling. "It was an accident, _I swear._"

"I don't believe that you did anything wrong," Harry told me quietly. My eyes flashed over to his, and his green eyes were pained, but firm. "I still think that Malfoy is at fault."

I shook my head violently, denying his words venemously. "Harry, it's not Draco's fault! It was all on me!"

"Yeah, listen to her, Harry," Hermione whispered. "I saw it with my own eyes, Malfoy did nothing."

"I hate to break this little debate, but we have to get Slughorn to the Infirmary before he actually _does _die." Nervous titters echoed across the dungeon at Malfoy's attempt at humor.

"I'll take him," I whispered. I pointed my wand to Slughorn's unconscious body. "_Wingardum Leviosa._" I didn't meet anyone's gaze as I started walking out, the body following me as I went.

More people had crowded in the halls, signifying by their worried faces that they had also heard the explosion. I gave them all weak smiles, grimacing as they started freaking out about the body behind me.

Only when I had reached the stairs, did a teacher spot me. It was only my luck that it had to be Professor Snape as well. As he started to rush towards me, the expression on his face told me that I was in more trouble than I could ever imagine.

Would I get expelled? Most likely. Suspended? Only if I was lucky. Somehow, I didn't think that just a simple detention could cover my little Potion incident.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

-Alia- 

"Ms. Morgan, Dumbledore is requesting your presence in his office," Professor McGonagall told me gently, resting a hand on my shoulder.

I lifted my head from my arms and gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you, Professor."

She nodded, giving me a small smile in return. "No problem, Ms. Morgan."

I exited her office, heading down to Dumbledore's. Of course what would I expect? To get away scot-free? I had been in McGonagall's office for the past few hours, waiting for my punishment to be determined. The longer I waited, the more nervous I got. I hoped that I wouldn't have to experience something really drastic, or something that would make me wish I had been expelled instead.

"Lemon drop," I told the gargoyle, reciting this year's password. It sprang to life, jeering at me with it's cruel expression, as if it knew exactly what punishment I was to recieve. I shrank back from it, hugging my arms around my waist. The door opened with a creak, revealing a spiraling staircase to the headmaster's office. Another door was at the top of the stairway. I knocked three times, as it was custom to do.

"Come in, Ms. Morgan," Dumbledore called. The door sprang open, and I stepped in. As soon as I did, I almost turned back around again. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, and Malfoy was standing on his left side. I bit my lip hard, wincing as I punctured skin. _What is _he _doing here?  
><em>  
>Silence covered us like a heavy blanket until Dumbledore started to speak again. "I'm sure you know what you have done," he stated.<p>

I nodded, guilt flooding into my chest. "Yes, Professor. And I'm really sorry for what I did, but I _swear _it was an accident. I really didn't mean to injure Professor Slughorn, and I tried to warn him about the potion."

Dumbledore looked towards Malfoy, asking him to confirm what I said. I looked towards him also, but didn't look at his face. I didn't want to look into his eyes, when they had the power to make me vulnerable.

"She didn't really warn him, Professor. Slughorn was walking towards the potion when she cried out to him," he answered quietly. Dumbledore just nodded in response, as if he had expected this answer.

"I understand that it was an unintentional action that caused this, but the consequences are still very severe," he said, turning back towards me. His baby blue eyes had turned serious, no twinkle was present. I swallowed, _he really is serious.  
><em>  
>"I understand, Professor," I whispered. "I will accept what punishment you are giving me."<p>

Dumbledore appraised me with his eyes in interest. "Are you sure about that, Ms. Morgan?"

I nodded. "Yes Professor."

"There is no punishment."

It was silent again, and I was frozen. I wasn't sure on whether to believe what the headmaster was saying, or if this was all a dream. No punishment? I had almost killed a teacher! How could there be no punishment?

"I don't believe you, Professor Dumbledore," I stated, staring at him.

A chuckle escaped his lips as he gave me an amused glance. "And why not, Ms. Morgan?"

"It-It's impossible that there is no consequence for my actions! What I did was serious, and I almost killed Slughorn! How can I get away with no punishment?" I yelled in confusion.

Dumbledore remained calm. "Would you like there to be a punishment, Ms. Morgan?" he questioned me.

I shook my head violently. "No sir."

"Then there will be no punishment," he said evenly. He looked towards Malfoy, a thoughtful expression on his face. "However, you are not getting away scot-free."

I allowed my gaze to shift over to Malfoy, who seemed to be uncomfortable with our eyes on him. A sense of dread was starting to come over me as I realized that whatever Dumbledore was thinking would have to do with him.

"It has come to my attention that you are having trouble in Potions, are you not?" Dumbledore questioned. "You certainly aren't getting O's, Ms. Morgan."

I felt my face start to turn crimson as I heard him say that. "I really don't think that it's my fault, sir. My partner has been gone for most of the time that we've been having classes."

"But Professor Slughorn has also told me that your potion brewing skills could also use some work, Ms. Morgan. The very least what you can do is make sure that nothing like this is going to happen again by learning how to prevent accidents like it from happening."

I bit my lip, feeling conflicted. "Yeah...I guess that's true."

"Professor Snape, who will be substituting the class until Slughorn is better, said that Mr. Malfoy here was his best student when he used to teach Potions. I will be appointing Mr. Malfoy to be your tutor until you can get your grades up in class."

My blood ran cold as soon as those words escaped his lips. A hollow ringing sounded in my ears, and I could feel the strength start to fade from my limbs. I began seeing double, hearing my breath quicken in surprise. _No. I refuse to work with him.  
><em>  
><em> "Ms. Morgan? Ms. Morgan, are you alright?"<em> I vaguely heard the headmaster's voice try and pull me out of the haze. By now, my breathing had stopped completely, and dark splotches were hovering near the edges of my vision.

_"I've got her, professor," _Malfoy grunted. Warm, strong arms supported me as I sank into them, preventing me from falling to the ground. Heat rushed through my body, causing it to warm and hum in contentment.

And right then, I snapped out of my reverie.

"Get your hands off of me," I snarled, pushing him away from me and forgetting all about Dumbledore behind us. "I don't want _anything _to do with you, do you hear me?" Although the words cut me as I said them, I ignored the stabbing pain and focused my glare on him.

He returned my furious glare with calm eyes. "I don't think you have a choice."

I spun back around to face Dumbledore, hoping that there would be another thing that I could do. _Anything _to get away from _him. _"Please professor, there must be another way."

"I'm afraid not, Ms. Morgan. And from what I see here, this might be more beneficial to you than I have originally planned. I hope that during these experience, you will learn to work together," he smiled, his eyes twinkling.

I stared at him as if he was talking in a foreign language. Me and Malfoy? Get along with each other? Surely he didn't understand that the time for that had come and gone. Surely he wasn't there when Malfoy had listened to my heartfelt speech and blew it all up in my face in front of the class. Surely he couldn't see how much the wounds of the past were haunting me, the depth of what Malfoy's betrayal had done.

"I'm afraid...that that won't work, Professor," I muttered.

"Well, you are obliged to make it work-both of you are," Dumbledore chastised us. "I expect to hear no complaints, or there will be an instant suspension." He fixed us both a calm, but firm stare and started to stand from his desk. "Good day to you Ms. Morgan, Mr. Malfoy. I really hope that you both learn from this experience." With that, he was gone.

I stood frozen in place, staring at the spot where the professor had apparated from. He must've been very powerful if he could apparate within school grounds while no one else could. Right now, I wished that I could apparate as easily as he had. I wanted to get away, to escape from this place. I began walking towards the door, but a hand snared my wrist, preventing me from going.

I turned sharply to see _him _grabbing on to my wrist. I instantly began to shake it off, he had brought me nothing but trouble today. Right now, I fereverently wished that hadn't come back. His grip only tightened, causing me to wince in pain.

"_What?_" I finally hissed. Maybe if I listened to what he had to say, he would let me go sooner.

"I don't care what Dumbledore says, I am _not _going to waste my precious time tutoring you," he said between his teeth. I laughed bitterly, giving one more tug against his grip. _Same old Malfoy.  
><em>  
>"I didn't expect you to."<p>

He blinked, surprise crossing his features. "You didn't?"

I shook my head. "You're a Malfoy, you have too much pride to teach a lowly mudblood like me." I started to walk towards the door again, grateful that he didn't try to stop me again.

"Wait, Alia, stop!" I stiffened in surprise, causing him to collide into me and toss us down the stairs. I got up quickly, wincing at the bruises. _Did he just call me Alia?  
><em>  
>Malfoy got up too, brushing off his clothing and grabbing me by my wrist again. I almost screamed in frustration. Why wouldn't he let me go?<p>

"What did you just call me?" I asked him coldly.

"Ali-" he stopped himself, looking embarrassed. "Nothing. That doesn't matter."

"I didn't know that we were on a first name basis now, _Draco,_" I hissed.

He flinched, but then his hard expression came back. "I just want to know what time that you want to meet, mudblood," he nearly growled.

"Let me think...how about _never._" I spit in his face.

"Just listen to me," he said, a desperate edge entering into his voice.

"Why? You never listen to me anymore. When I told you everything, you spit it back into my face." I looked at him evenly, but my tone was raw with emotion.

"I sent a letter to my mother," he said, squeezing my wrist to keep my eyes on him. "I asked her about you, if you were saying the truth."

I froze, biting my lip. _Narcissa. _I hadn't seen her in such a long time...she was like a second mother to me. When my own mother died right after a Death Eater attack, she had comforted me. But when Draco had turned cold, she turned cold with him. I remembered crying every single night because of that...it was like I had lost my mom all over again.

"What did she say?" I let my tone be guarded. Letting out too much emotion during this time would be dangerous. I didn't want to be hurt again.

"She said..." he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "She said that you were telling the truth."

I let out the breath that I had been holding and nodded, expecting that. "And?"

His eyes opened, revealing their beautiful silver hue. "I'm sorry."

"You're _sorry?_" I cried out, incredulous. "Draco Malfoy is _never _sorry."

He let out an impatient breath, shaking his head. "You don't know me. Who I am on the outside is not who I want to be."

"You try to please your father," I whispered. _Lucius. _He was like Satan's spawn, and surely he was the one that had poisoned Draco. He probably gave him the Forgetfullness Potion and made him erase everything from his memory about me. That was probably the reason why Draco didn't remember.

"He made me forget you," his voice was raw with emotion. "I swear it wasn't my fault."

"I believe you," I murmured. I fought hard against the sudden impulse to stroke his hair and comfort him. All the feelings that I had buried about him long ago started to surface, making them hard to suppress.

"I'm sorry that I don't remember you," he said. "And I can't believe that I've acted like a git to you."

"It's okay..." I said. I didn't know what else to say.

"No it's not." He looked at me with anguished eyes. "You were the only person that I was myself around, and I drove you away."

He was starting to scare me now. He seemed to be in a frenzy, and I vaguely wondered how long it would take for him to reach the edge. He wasn't the Draco Malfoy that had entered the Potions room today, and he wasn't the Draco that I had been friends with either. It was like he was someone else, a new form of himself.

"Hush, Malfoy," I said sternly. "We can talk about this later. You want to know when you can tutor me for Potions? Come to the Room of Requirement at 3 AM, I'll be there." I jerked my hand from his grip once again and walked towards the exit. This time, he didn't try to stop me and I was eternally grateful for that.

When I reached the Gryffindor common room, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all jumped up from the couch to greet me. I stared at them, wondering why they would do such at thing, then I remembered that they thought that I was their friend, and wanted to be there for me. I smiled a little bit. It felt nice to be wanted.

"What's your punishment?" Hermione blurted out, her eyes huge. "Did he expel you? Why did he expell you? Now what will I do by myself?" she wailed.

"He didn't expel me..." I said. "I don't really have a punishment.."

"_What? _That's impossible!" she gasped. "You almost killed a teacher!"

"Are you sure that you have no punishment?" Harry asked me quietly, setting his green eyes on me.

I sighed, running a hand through my wavy hair. "Well...he's making Malfoy tutor me in Potions. If I don't get tutored, then I'll be suspended."

"He's getting MALFOY to tutor you?" Harry yelled. He sprang up from the couch and stalked over to me, rage showing from his head to his toes. I bit my lip at his negative reaction. "What is he going to have you do next? Bear Malfoy's children?"

"HARRY!" Hermione yelled, turning as red as me. "That's enough!"

"No, it's not enough! Malfoy's dangerous!" Harry screamed. He glared at me, his gaze suddenly filled with immense hatred. _If looks could kill...  
><em>  
>"Harry, please stop," I said calmly. "Malfoy's not as bad as you think."<p>

"Or maybe you're just as bad as him!" Harry laughed. "I should have known you'd be a traitor. What has he done? Poison your mind?"

By this time, I'd had enough. I drew myself to my full five feet and six inches, staring at Harry coldly. "Maybe you're the one that has your mind poisoned, Potter. None of this is Draco's fault, his father doesn't give him a goddamn choice about living his life! If you knew his real story, you'd understand!"

"And you know his real story?" he growled, quirking an eyebrow.

I paused. _Did I know Draco's true story? What if Harry was right, what if he was dangerous? What if he actually was a Death Eater? What kind of secrets has he been keeping from me? He's obviously not the same Draco Malfoy he was six years ago... _"No.."I said grudgingly. "But that doesn't mean that I can't see the good in him." I looked at all three of them, Ron looked uncomfortable and Hermione just looked shocked. Harry was still furious, but I could tell that he had calmed down a bit. These three people that I had called my "friends" suddenly seemed a little hostile. Would they ever accept the truth about Draco? Would they ever the see the good in him? I glanced at the clock, realizing that it was far later than I realized it was. If I was going to wake up at 3 AM for my tutor session, it was best that I headed to bed right now. With another look at the Golden Trio, I let out a sigh. "Goodnight," I whispered, heading up the stairs.

When I heard three gongs come from the Gryffindor Common Room clock, I quietly got out of bed, wrapping my robe around me to keep the chill out. Hogwarts wasn't exactly the warmest castle in the night...

I grabbed my wand and Potions textbook on the way out, realizing that I would need them if I actually was going to be "tutored".

The fat lady portrait was asleep when I headed out, and I was glad for the quiet escape. I wasn't sure if I could handle her questions, or whether she'd prove trustworthy or not to keep my secret.

I walked along the halls, wondering if Draco would actually show up. Well, if he didn't, then I'd just go back to the Common Room-no harm, no foul. I hesitated at the entrance of the Room of Requirement, a wave of nervousness washing over me. I hadn't forgotten how I had felt in Dumbledore's office when Draco had caught me, Heat had flashed throughout my very body, awakening it in places I didn't know had existed. The very feeling on his touch sent my hormones into overdrive, bringing to surface the feelings that I had kept surpressed and buried long ago. Now that they were now bubbling towards the surface, I had no idea what to expect.

I paused at the door again, looking at it clearly. I was already taking a lot of risks by being here, so why not risk some more? What would one more risk be to a huge pile of other ones?

So, I took a breath and opened the door...only to reveal an empty room. Disappointment sank it's teeth into me and bit me hard before I could react to anything else. A lump appeared in my throat and I fought hard against the tears that threatened to erupt.

Of course, what was I to expect? He was a Malfoy...of course he would ditch a lowly mudblood like me.

He was just like his father, after all.

I sniffled, ready to turn back around, when I collided into a hard wall of muscle. I looked up, only to find Draco standing there with a smirk on his face.

"Didn't think I'd show up, did you?" he asked me quietly. He ran a hand through his messy platinum blonde hair and sighed. "Sorry, I had trouble sneaking out of the Slytherin Commons. Snape watches us like a hawk."

I stared at him incredulously. "Snape _watches _your house? Isn't that a little over the top?"

He shrugged, making a face. "Don't remind me."

I laughed, then gestured towards the desk in the middle of the room. "Well...I guess that we're going to have to start the lesson soon."

"Yeah..."

We stood there awkwardly until I decided to sit down. Draco followed after me.

"Alright, we'll start with the basics," he said. "Open the book to page one."

I rolled my eyes and groaned. "But we already learned that stuff in First Year!"

"Correction: _I _learned that stuff in First Year, as well as the rest of the Potions class. You haven't learned a thing," he stated.

I smacked him in the face with my book, giggling at his surprised expression. "Oh shut up. You know that's not true."

_ Since when have I felt to light...so free around him? Around anyone to be more precise.  
><em>  
>"Watch where you aim things, mudblood!" he growled, yanking the book from my hands. I pouted, then stole his textbook from right under him.<p>

"Ooohh, I wonder what the great Draco Malfoy has in his textbook," I mocked him, flashing a grin. "Maybe there are secret love letters, or orders from a secret club...Ooooohh!"

"Hey, give that back!" he protested, lunging towards me. I stepped towards the side, laughing as he fell on his face.

"And why should I?"

He didn't respond, but just lunged towards me again. I stepped to the side again, clucking my tongue.

"Tut, tut Mr. Malfoy. We use our words, not our actions."

"Merlin," he growled, standing up. "Just give it back, Alia."

"Why?" I pressed.

He huffed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Please..."

I bit my lip and sighed. "Alright..fine..." I grudingly handed him back his textbook. He snatched it back from my hands, and frowned at me.

"Now I mean it. I'm here to teach you, Alia. Just open the book to page one."

I sighed again, already bored. "Ughhh, do I have to?" As you can guess, I wasn't particularly fond of learning.

He raised his eyebrows. I slinked back towards my chair and opened the book. "Yes Draco..."

"Don't call me Draco," he snapped, reclaiming his seat next to me. "I'm your teacher. You must call me Mr. Malfoy."

I rolled my eyes again. "Gee, this thing is getting to your head now, isn't it?"

He just glared at me.

"My apologies, _Mr. Malfoy._" I said through my teeth. I opened my textbook to the first page and started reading about the Babbling Potion.

"Much better," he replied. I heard the smile in his voice and snorted.

_Yeah, this whole teacher thing is really getting into his head. _


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

-Draco-

Alia and I parted our ways at 6 AM, after she successfully made the Babbling Potion. _Good. That means that I don't have to teach her from the __**very **__beginning, _I thought with a yawn. Between working on my task for the Dark Lord and tutoring Alia, I had no energy left. I felt lightheaded as I walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast, and I would've fallen asleep at the table had it not have been for Pansy's annoying constant chattering. Every few minutes, I found myself rubbing my eyes to keep the tiredness out of them.

As I glanced over at the Gryffindor table, I noticed that Alia was doing the same thing. I smirked, feeling a little better that I wasn't the only one feeling like they hadn't slept in weeks. But I frowned as I realized that she had nothing to worry about, and therefore she shouldn't be so worried. Which meant that only thing that was probably bugging her was me, and I was the reason why she was losing so much sleep.

A rush of guilt overcame me as I looked away. I hated being the cause of her problems, despite the fact that she was only a mudblood. But even as I thought that, my mind started to wander back towards last night, and I realized that I had treated her like an equal instead of someone at a lower class than me.

_"No, no, no! You're doing it all wrong, __**again!**__" I chastised, snatching the ingredients out of her hands. "Do you want us to get killed?"_

_"Well, the textbook never said anything about not being creative!" she shot back. "We can't all be boring gits like you!"_

_I frowned at her, feeling a little miffed at her statement. Me, Draco Malfoy, __**boring? **__She had to be insane. "Be creative somewhere else, in Potions you have to follow the rules otherwise you can end up signing your own death warrant." I pointed to the Potions textbook. "See, it says here to just add the butterfly wings one by one. It doesn't say to add a butterfly wing, then add another one to make a pattern!"_

_"But that's so boring!" she whined. Then she shot me a smirk. "Hey, maybe that's where you got your boringness from! Did you read the textbook cover to cover or something? No wonder Snape loves you!"_

_"I'm not boring!" I protested. "And Snape does not love me!" And I knew for a fact that that was true. Snape actually detested me, and I almost always got into trouble with him. Him favoring me as his star pupil was just an act for everyone else to see._

_"Whatever you say, Draco," she smirked. "You may not be boring, but you do play by the rules. So I guess that makes you a goody-two-shoes instead."_

_"Oh shut it," I growled. "And get back to making the Babbling Beverage."_

_"See. Goody-two-shoes," Alia said simply.  
><em>_  
>I growled again and reached over to her Potions book. "How's this for goody-two-shoes?" I started to rip pages from it, butchering the poor book till it lay at a mangled heap at my feet. Mother told me never to abuse literature, and that it a man's greatest key to knowledge. She would've been disappointed-no, very angry at me if she had been here. The fact that I would've caused such a reaction from her made me flinch and I instantly felt guilty.<em>

_"Draco!" Alia shrieked. "I needed that!"_

_I broke out of my reverie and smirked at her. "Not so much of a goody-two-shoes anymore, am I?"_

_"No, I guess not," she growled, speaking through gritted teeth. She pointed towards the book with a shaking hand. "Fix it!"_

_"You've got a wand," I snorted. "Do it yourself."_

_"Yeah? Well you've got two wands," she said. "You have double the magic." As soon as she realized what she had just said, she flushed scarlet. I touched my face to realize that it had heated up as well. The room had become deathly silent besides the bubbling coming from the cauldren._

_"Double the magic, eh?" I snickered. "Why, I didn't know that you thought so high of me, Lia." Lia...I liked the sound of that. I would use it as her new nickname..._

_Wait, what? __**Nicknames? **__Merlin, I was going bonkers! She was just a mudblood for crying out loud!_

_"Oh shut up," she muttered, turning even redder. [she looks like a tomato], I smirked. [A very cute tomato...] That smirk instantly dropped from my face as I realized what I had just said. Yup, I was going nuts. I let out a sigh, keeping my gaze to the floor._

_"Here, why don't you use my textbook while I fix yours," I muttered, handing it to her. I had secretly double checked that the page with the Babbling Beverage didn't reveal any secret information. But it was just a quick check, and I wasn't sure if I had accidentally placed anything in there. "Reparo." The book returned to its original state, before I had torn it to shreds. I turned around to give it back, only to have Alia intently stare at my book, the potion behind her left forgotten._

_A sense of fear started to appear in my chest. What if she was seeing something that she wasn't supposed to see. [Nonsense], I thought, trying to reason myself against the panic that was threatening to overcome me. [You've already checked the bloody thing. There shouldn't be anything there...] I swallowed nervously, coming up to her. "What are you looking at?"_

_"Who's Astoria?" she asked me curiously, peering over at me. I froze in my tracks, my heart beating slightly faster._

_"No one," I said hastily. I held out her book. "There, I fixed your textbook. Can I have mine back now?"_

_She shrugged. "Sure." She had turned back to the potion when I heard her murmur: "I didn't know that you were getting an arranged marriage, Draco."  
><em>_  
>I froze again. How did she know? I asked her that exactly.<em>

_"I'm not stupid, Malfoy," she said bitterly. "I can read."_

_I cursed as I realized that she had probably read a letter that I had jammed between the pages. Great. Now she knew. Why not tell it to the whole world?_

_Alia noticed my expression and sighed, shaking her head. "I won't tell anyone, Draco..." she said softly. "But I have one question...do you want it?"_

_"I don't really have a choice. Never have, never will," I sighed shaking my head. A lump appeared in my throat, but I quickly swallowed it down. I would __**not **__cry in front of a girl. It was not a Malfoy thing to do._

_"But that's stupid!" she cried. I cringed as I heard her yell. "You deserve to have a choice on who you marry! I mean, you're supposed to spend the rest of your life with them! You can't marry someone that you don't love!" As I watched an indignant expression crawl across her face, I grew angry. Who was she to interfere in matters that didn't concern her?_

_"Yeah? Well it's none of your goddamn fucking business who I marry!" I yelled at her. "Why do you care so much anyway?"_

_As soon as I said those words, Alia had turned away quickly. But even she wasn't fast enough to hide the single tear that I saw trail down her cheek. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. [Bloody hell, I've made her cry again!]_

_Neither of us spoke for the last hour and a half for the potion to finish. I had kept on looking at the clock on the wall, only to groan at how slowly the hands were moving. Sometimes I'd ever so slightly glance at Alia, only to find her either stirring the potion or just standing there absently. My mouth would open up a few times to say something, but nothing would come out and I'd just close it again. I felt guilty for snapping at her, but it was really none of her goddamn business. So all I did was keep my mouth shut._

_"The potion's done," I heard her softly say in my direction. "I think I did it right."_

_"Let me have a look," I muttered. I shook the stiffness from my limbs and peered into her cauldron. It looked pretty good, and it even matched the coloring in the book. I nodded, impressed with her work. I turned to her, taking in her hopeful expression. "Well, it didn't kill me, so I think you're good," I joked. "I'll give you an O for this really easy one."_

_She nodded. "Thank you."_

_We both glanced at the clock at the same time, then glanced at each other in surprise. Another blush colored her cheeks, and that tomato statement that I had made before appeared in my head. I shook my head quickly, removing it from my thoughts as I said: "Well, it's pretty late...er, early..er, whatever. I'll see you in Potions today maybe." That is, if I didn't have any more tasks that I had to do._

_Alia just nodded again. "Yeah, see you."  
><em>_  
>I held the door open for her as we got out of the Room of Requirement, surprising her with my gentleman-like attitude. She thanked me again, and then it was my turn to nod as we bid each other goodbye and made our way to our dorms.<em>

"Draco! Draaaaccoooooo!" Pansy squealed in my ear, causing me to jump. I turned around and glared at her, but she ignored it. "_Were you even listening?"_

"No, and I almost never do!" I snapped back at her. I ignored her hurt expression and ran a hand through my platinum blonde hair. I was getting tired of Pansy's constant clingy attitude. It seemed that wherever I was, she followed. It was getting on my nerves.

"Were you thinking about Morgan?" Pansy sneered. "You had some faraway look in your eyes. Don't tell me that you're actually bothering yourself about her, she's definitely not worth it."

I was caught off guard at her sudden directness. What did she know about Alia? Pansy never bothered actually confronting anyone unless they were a threat to the relationship that she thought that she and I had. But why did she think that Alia was a threat?

"No, I wasn't. Why would I be thinking about a lowly mudblood like her anyway?" I sneered back. "Why do you even care?"

"I overheard her and Slughorn talking about why you two didn't get along too much. She mentioned that you two were close when you were younger. She's such a poser! As if you'd waste your time with someone like her, right?" Pansy asked, wrapping a possessive arm around her waist.

"Right," I growled, squirming out of her hold. "But I never knew that you were such an eavesdropper, Pansy."

"I wasn't eavesdropping!" she yelled, coming to her defense. "They were just speaking way too loud!"

"Sure," I snickered, smirking at her pathetic comeback. "Whatever you say, Pansy." I glanced back at the Gryffindor table, and found Alia glancing my way as well. My smirk grew wider as I saw her blush when she saw that she had gotten caught. _Tomato Lia, _I thought, then grimaced as I realized that the nickname was now stuck in my head.

"Draco, why are you staring at the Gryffindor table?" Pansy whined, wrapping her clawlike hold around me. I groaned, and out of the corner of of my eye saw Alia giggle as she saw the scene before her. I shot her a glare, causing her to only laugh harder as I feverishly tried to get Pansy of off me. But when I finally got Pansy off, I found myself laughing as well alongside her.

-Alia-

"What's so funny?" Harry questioned, looking up from his breakfast to look at me.

I instantly stopped laughing, looking down quickly. "Nothing," I mumbled. It wasn't like he'd understand anyway...

"C'mon Alia," I heard Hermione sigh. "You can't _still _be mad at us..."

"Yeh, Awia, Wisten fo Ermione!" Ron added through a mouthful of food.

"Don't you _ever _stop eating?" I laughed at Hermione's shriek, looking up at the three of them. They all stared back at me, and I realized that they had only been stubborn yesterday because they wanted to protect me from Draco. They had all gotten it in their minds somehow that he was some crazy lunatic who bullied people because he wanted to, when in fact that wasn't the case.

I sighed, wishing that I could get them to change their minds.

"Why do you look so sad, Alia?" Ron asked me, this time without food to distort his speech. I shrugged, fidgeting with my hands.

"You guys won't understand. And even if you did, you'd never see me the same way again."

Hermione rested her hand on top of mine, looking at me with a concerned expression. "I'm sure that we will, Alia. Please, don't hold anything back. That's the number one reason of why depression occurs."

I shook my head, giving her a look that I hoped that she'd understand. "I can't tell you, not with everyone around..."

Hermione nodded, understanding immediately what had to be done. She turned towards Harry and Ron, shooing them away, much to their displeasure.

"What? Why can't we stay?" they groaned, glaring at her.

"Harry, Ronald, there's a reason why it's called _girl talk!_" she replied through gritted teeth. She put on her sternest expression and pointed them away. "Go!"

"Ugh fine." They left, muttering about how unfair it was to be a boy nowadays. I giggled despite myself.

"Alright, now tell me about your little tutoring session yesterday," Hermione smiled, looking quite eager. "They're gone, and we don't have to worry."

I stared at her with a shocked expression. "W-what tutoring session?" I cursed. _Damn, I stuttered! _There was no doubt that she'd see through my pretended ignorance now!

Hermione looked at me with a scowl, pointing her finger at my chest. "I'm not stupid, Alia. I heard you going off to your tutoring session. I had given the Fat Lady a sleeping potion so that she wouldn't bother you on the way out."

_That makes sense to why she was asleep then...she'd never been asleep before. _I realized. I gave her a smile. "Thanks Hermy."

"_Never _call me that again," she glared. "But do tell how everything went..."

"Nothing really..." I mumbled, feeling a bit dismayed at how boring the tutoring session actually was. I mean, it was nice that we actually managed not to argue, and that Draco wasn't the least bit nasty to me, but still... "I mean, we didn't really-"

"Oh my god, did he kiss you?" Hermione breathed, her brown eyes widening comically. I almost laughed at her enthusiasm.

"Merlin, Hermione, have you been reading romance novels or something?" I teased her, laughing as her cheeks flushed a light pink. "No, we didn't kiss. We didn't really do anything, just kind of talked really..."

"That's so boring!" Hermione cried, making a face. "I mean, why hasn't he made a move yet?"

I cocked an eyebrow, staring at her in confusion. Was there something that she wasn't telling me? "Hermione...what have you really been reading?"

Hermione blushed again, but this time it was a deeper shade, showing how deeply embarrassed she had been for saying that out loud. "Nothing..." she murmured.

I sighed and held out my hand. "Hand it over..."

She shook her head. "No thank you..." But once she saw the look on my face, she complied. "Ginny lent it to me..."

"_Bound by Magic," _I read. "_Harold and Gertrude were just two ordinary people, but once they become victim's of a magician's acts, sparks start to fly between them..._" I raised my eyebrows at her, trying to keep the goofy smile off my face. Who knew that Hermione Granger was a hopeless romantic at heart?

"Don't judge!" Hermione protested, snatching the book from me and clutching it to her chest. She sighed with longing. "Harold is just so romantic..."

"Well, I'm sure that you'll find your own Harold one day, Mione..." I whispered softly, squeezing her hand. "Or better yet, your Harold will come to his senses..."

Hermione sighed again, closing her eyes and smiling sadly. "Yes, I hope he does..."

"Who's Harold?" Both of us jumped as we heard Ron's voice come out of nowhere. Hermione frowned and reached forward, yanking off a watery like substance off of the air, revealing our two eavesdroppers. I gasped in surprise. _An invisibility cloak... _Merlin, I could use one of those!

"How long have you two been here?" Hermione screeched. I covered my ears and winced, hoping that I wouldn't suffer any permanent ear damage.

"Just to hear that last nonsense about someone named Harold..." Harry said casually. Hermione smacked him in the head with her book, causing his glasses to slide down his nose. "Hey!" he yelled indignantly, rubbing his scalp.

"How many times do I have to tell you that it's rude to eavesdrop into conversations!" Hermione yelled, giving them two a deep glare. I laughed at their shameful expressions. _Boys..._

"Sorry Hermione," they mumbled at the same time.

"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?" I protested. "I think that I deserve an apology too!"

"Sorry Alia," they mumbled again.

I smiled. "Better."

"So do you think that you and Malfoy will finally be able to work together in Potions?" Hermione asked me as we walked towards our next class. "This time _without _killing or endangering anyone?"

I laughed. "I hope so," I said quietly.

"Good," she replied, clearly pleased. "Because I'm pretty sure that Snape won't tolerate you two fighting all the time."

I groaned. "Yeah..." I had forgotten that Snape was teaching Potions. He never liked me, mostly because I wasn't really the best student in his class. But maybe he would overlook that and try _not _to pick on me all the time.

**But one can only hope...**


	9. Chapter 8

-Alia-

"You're late," a deep nasally voice droned, turning around to face us.

Hermione and I stopped in our tracks, and I tensed up slightly. "We left the Great Hall with the rest of the students, professor. I don't understand why we're so late."

"That's not my problem," Snape sneered. "And just for talking back to me, you have two weeks of detention, Ms. Morgan."

See, what did I tell you about Snape? Merlin, I swear he hates me.

I headed to my seat, shaking my head and quietly muttering under my breath. Draco was already there in his spot, staring straight ahead towards the front of the room. I sighed and sat next to him, running a hand through my hair. He didn't show any sign that he noticed my presence. I just shrugged and looked towards the front of the classroom as well.

Snape started the class a few minutes later, after catching a few other "latecomers". They ended up receiving the same punishment that I did: a week worth of detention. And like me, none of them seemed too happy with that prospect.

"Today we will review on how to make the Anti-Paralysis Potion, since it seems that this class is a place where one too many accidents are occurring. A few healing potions would work to your advantage. It seems that Slughorn skipped that important aspect," Snape announced coolly. "Ingredients are in the cabinet, and you have until the rest of the class period to finish the potion. You may begin...now."

This time, I didn't bother consulting with Draco on what needed to be done. Doing that last time had screwed me up. What I had learned last night was that if I did the potion independently, then I had a less chance of screwing up. The textbook had called for six pairs of butterfly wings and a cup of standard ingredient before stirring them together and grabbing other necessities. I headed back to our station, only to be stopped in the middle by Snape. His flat black eyes bore into mine, causing a shiver to race down my spine.

"I trust that you won't endanger anyone in this classroom, right Ms. Morgan?" he said quietly. Indignation built up in me and I opened my mouth to retort something back at him, but quickly thought better of it. I was already missing a week's worth of my life, I wasn't about to give Snape the satisfaction to steal away anymore moments.

His eyes glinted with satisfaction as he realized the amount of power that he had over me, causing me to fume even longer.

"Excuse me, professor," I replied, gritting my teeth. I headed to my station again, ignoring Draco's suddenly amused expression.

"What are you waiting for? Can't you do something instead of just standing around?" I snapped at him, furiously adding the standard ingredient and stirring the potion. I wasn't in the mood for fun and games.

He ignored my attitude. "Wow, he's really hard on you, isn't he? Even harder than on me..." Draco mused.

I sighed, leaving the potion unattended for a few minutes. "I don't understand why. I never did anything to him, why does he always pick on me?"

"He picks on a lot of people," Draco assured me, giving me a small smile. "Snape prefers to bully people around as a stress reliever."

I snorted, resting my hands on my hips. "Stress reliever? What kind of stress would Snape of all people have?"

Draco shrugged, suddenly seeming to withdraw from the conversation. "He just seems like someone who would have a lot on his shoulders, that's all. Everyone reveals their issues within time..."

I stared at him, my jaw slack. When I saw him raise an eyebrow, I blushed and quickly closed it before I would end up with something in my mouth. "Since when did you get so wise and sensitive, Malfoy?"

He glared at me, motioning for me to keep my voice down. "You heard _nothing," _he spat. "And that's just common courtesy, Morgan. It's no surprise that you mudbloods lack it!"

I rolled my eyes, fighting to keep off the grin of my face. "Whatever Malfoy. I don't care anyway." I saw him roll his eyes and turn away, heading over to the ingredients table.

"I'll get the rest of the ingredients," he called over to me.

I nodded in his direction, looking down at the potion so that I could hide my smile. When I said that I didn't care, that was a total lie. I totally _did _care, you know why? Because in that little moment that Draco had spoken those words, it showed how much he really cared. In that little moment, a little piece of his coldness was shattered, leaving his true personality to shine. As cliché and cheesy as that sounded, it was true. And that little piece that shone through was giving me hope that I hadn't totally lost him five years ago.

Maybe Draco was still in there somewhere, lost and searching for help. I could go deep inside him and free him from himself, but for that he had to show that he was still there inside...

_I would be the one to save him. _That thought made me smile more than anything.

"Pssssttt, Alia!"

I turned around and groaned, mumbling incoherent things in my sleep. Was it time to get up already? Snape was brutal in detention, making us polish the Slytherin trophy case till it free of any sort of dust or grime. My arms were still hurting from all the polishing and re-polishing that I had to do. All I wanted to do was keep sleeping until i got my fill of rest.

Unfortunately, this voice didn't seem too keen on giving me that luxury.

This time, hands entered the picture as they pulled and tugged at me. I found myself being violently shaken as well as yelled at. "ALIA! WAKE UP!" With one final push, I found myself flying...

...till I hit the floor hard.

If nothing had worked to wake me up before, this surely achieved the goal. I shot up, furiously spitting out the hair that had fallen into my mouth and glaring at whoever was behind all of this. I found myself staring into the face of meek little Hermione, with a stern expression on her face.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" I yelled, making a move to climb back under the covers. Hermione blocked the way instantly, giving me a glare of her own.

"Do you know what day it is, Alia?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. I raised and eyebrow at her and she sighed. "Today is Quidditch tryouts! You made me wake you up so you could make it on time! You have ten minutes to get ready!"

As the realization of that statement hit me, my eyes widened and I started to panic. "SHIT!" How in Merlin was I to make it on time?

"I packed up all of your quidditch gear into that bag, and all of your clothes are _there," _Hermione called out, trying to create order in this chaos. "Just put on your gear as other people tryout. You'll be fine."

I almost laughed with relief. "Ohmygod, thank you so much, Hermione!" I ran up to gave her a hug. "You save my arse _big time!_"

She looked back at me smugly. "It's what I do, Alia. No need to thank me."

I was out the door before she could finish that sentence.

I hadn't realized how late that I had really slept in till I saw all of the quidditch members on the field. I cursed, quickening my pace as I stumbled towards the field.

The problem with quidditch gear was that not only was it drastically heavy, but it made it impossible to see anything-or anyone else in the hallway. So when I ended up on the floor two minutes later, even though the blow was shocking, I wasn't at all surprised that it happened.

"Watch where you're going, mudblood!"

I sighed, closing my eyes. Of course it would be _him. _Who else would I have the misfortune to come across? I just wished that it would have been with a later time, when I actually didn't have to run for my life.

"Well, aren't you going to apologize?" he continued on snottily. "After all, it was _you _who ran into _me."_

I had had enough. _"_Draco, _SHUT UP!" _I hissed, getting up and dusting myself off. I grabbed my quidditch gear again, wincing as my arms literally screamed in protest. How the bloody hell was I supposed to prove myself to the team _now?_

"Morgan?" he barked in surprise. I rolled my eyes, fed up with his act. Why did he have to act all tough and jerky when that wasn't who he _truly _was?

"Who else would it be?" I snorted. "Not many other mudbloods, right?" I started to push past him, trying to get to the field before I ended up being _too _late. I mean, Harry could offer some leeway, right?

Draco grabbed onto my elbow, halting me in my tracks and causing some of my equipment to crash to the ground again. I groaned, turning around to glare at him. He seemed unfazed. "Wait," he stated calmly. "Are you going to quidditch tryouts?"

I snorted. "No, I'm going to Hogsmeade...Of course I'm going to quidditch tryouts!" The true question was, however, was _why did he care?_

"You won't make it on time if you go that way," he stated simply. "I know a shortcut."

I raised an eyebrow, curious despite myself. "Why do you even care?"

He shrugged. "I'm going the same way, thought I'd lend a hand..." While leaving me to ponder his statement, he reached his hand out towards me. "What do you say?"

I pursed my lips, fighting with two sides of myself. I _could _ignore him and just go my own way, but I was running later by the second...I didn't have any time to spare. But if I _went _with him, how did I know that I could trust him to take me to wherever he promised? I stared at him. His silvery gray eyes almost seemed sincere, even innocent. I groaned, resting my hand in his. "_Fine. _But if you take me _anywhere else _but the quidditch field, I promise that things won't look so good for you."

He just smirked at me, saying nothing. I just rolled my eyes, hoping that the shortcut actually was _short._

It turned out that Draco managed to save my arse. Needless to say, I was very surprised when we actually _did _end up in the quidditch pitch and not some random room. I spent a good ten seconds gaping at my surroundings before I heard him chuckle.

"Didn't think that I'd do you a favor, huh?" he smirked. I just mutely shook my head no, and he just shrugged and walked away. Only then did I realize that he was also wearing quidditch robes, or correction_, _quidditch _captain_robes. My shock started to increase. Why was he helping me, a member of the opposing team? Weren't we supposed to try and belittle each other's chances of winning the quidditch cup?

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. That boy was making no sense at all.

"Alia, I see that you have made it," Harry called towards me sarcastically. "Tryouts started 30 seconds ago."

I rolled my eyes, tugging my gear on. "I didn't think that you'd be that strict, Harry. Merlin, you're worse than Snape!"

"Don't talk back to the captain!" he snapped, shooting me a dirty look. "That can ruin your chance of getting on the team." As he turned away, I made funny faces behind his back, causing some giggles to erupt from some of the others members. This time, Harry ignored me.

"I am proud to say that I am the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team this year," he started. "But I have some very big shoes to fill. Oliver Wood was a very fine captain, and I'm sure that he would be proud of the good turnout that we have this year." He paused, looking at each of us in the eye. Except for me, I wouldn't make eye contact with him. "I can't promise that each and every one of you will make it onto the team, but I do know that if you try your hardest, you'll have a better chance than the slackers...Got it?"

We all nodded accordingly.

Harry returned the nod, letting out a small grin. "Alright, let the tryouts start! Who's first?"

Before I knew what I was doing, I raised my hand. Harry raised an eyebrow at me, and I stared back at him defiantly. He let out a sigh and nodded, beckoning me forward. "Alright, Alia. Let's see what you got."

I was trying out for the position of Gryffindor Seeker, even though Harry had been in that spot for a countless number of years before. This year, however, since Harry was captain, he had issued a challenge on whoever could beat him out for the position of seeker. If that person beat him, then he would become this year's seeker.

I honestly thought that I didn't have much of a chance. After all, Harry had years of experience behind him, and he had almost won all of Gryffindor's games for us. I had only been playing quidditch for about two years now, and this was my first attempt of joining the school team. What chance did I have to winning? Like nothing. But you only lived once...so why not give it a shot?

"Ready?" Harry asked me.

"Yeah," I murmured. _No, not at all, _I thought.

The objective was to get the snitch before Harry did, simple as that. Even though the task at hand seemed pretty easy, I knew that it would be anything but that. Like I said before, Harry had talent and years of experience. I had nothing.

In a flash, we both took off in our brooms, shooting upwards towards the sky before sinking down to a level altitude. I searched for the snitch, narrowing my eyes against the gusting wind that was making flying challenging. After a few minutes, I heard some small buzzing close to my ear. I held perfectly still, trying not to make any sudden movements that would either send it scampering off, or to alert Harry on how close it had come to me. I vaguely heard him screaming to people down below on whether they had released it or not, and used his distraction as a perfect opportunity for catching the snitch.

I breathed in deep, level breaths, coaxing it to come closer to me. I started feeling myself be drawn toward it, as if it was radiating some strange force that attracted me. I made sure to remain perfectly calm, waiting until it was directly in front of my face. When there was nothing more than a couple of inches between me and the snitch, I lunged forward, capturing it in the palm of my hand.

As soon as I touched the snitch, however, a burning sensation erupted along my arm. There was heat, and it was burning, _burning, __**burning, **_me. I let out a scream, dropping the snitch like a hot coal. The burning sensation didn't go away, but dulled considerably. I started to feel dizzy and nauseous at the same time, all energy in my body disappearing quickly. Soon, my eyelids became heavy, and it took a constant effort to keep myself on that broom.

I vaguely heard shouts from the ground below, but they soon became quite murmurs next to the roar of my pounding pulse. My breaths were coming out in short gasps, and I was getting even more lightheaded by the lack of oxygen. I began to swoon, my sense of perception weakening heavily. My eyes began to drift close to their own accord, and I started to fall.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was a flash of green and silver robes.


End file.
